No, I think that’s for pure Quebec Gold, man. When they cut it with artificial fructose and divide it into those little single serving packets, they can sell it for 5 times more.
More news here. If I’m reading this correctly, they never stole the barrels; instead, they siphoned out the contents of 16,000 barrels. The police have recovered 70% of the stolen syrup.
This NY Times article is a good primer for an international audience:
I heard that Space Pirate Hadfield took off to the ISS yesterday with tubes of maple syrupso as escape Canadian jurisdiction.