Eisenberger seeks city control on placement of cannabis outlets

Mayor Fred Eisenberger wants the province to give municipalities tools to control how many cannabis dispensaries will be allowed in the city once marijuana becomes legal next month.

In his first public comments on cannabis and how it will impact Hamilton, Eisenberger said the province needs to allow municipalities some authority on where cannabis outlets can go, such as preventing them from opening near schools.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be overrun by cannabis stores,” Eisenberger said during an interview at the Jitterbug Café in Waterdown on Thursday.

“I hope (the province) allows municipalities some control on how we create the zoning and radial separation.”

Eisenberger said he recently received advice from the city’s integrity commissioner that he can discuss general cannabis issues publicly.

The change happened, he said, when the cannabis company he bought shares in transformed from a privately held corporation to a publicly traded one.

Eisenberger said he is now a minor shareholder with less than 10 per cent of the company’s shares.

“So I don’t have a conflict in the general industry,” he said.

If the company — which he did not identify — has business before council, Eisenberger said he will declare a conflict of interest.

The mayor argued he didn’t want to identify the company because he “doesn’t want to get into favouring one company over another.”

Eisenberger, who had earlier indicated he would sell his shares in November, said now he isn’t planning to do so.

“I will hang on to them.” Eisenberger bought shares in a cannabis production company in 2017 about a year before recreational marijuana was expected to be legal across the country.

Since then, a number of marijuana grow operations have been applying to the city to establish or expand their current operations causing significant concerns among councillors and residents.

The city has also been cracking down on illegal cannabis dispensaries, laying bylaw charges and taking them to court.

The government said Ontario municipalities will have the chance to opt-out of allowing cannabis stores within its boundaries.

Meanwhile, Eisenberger said he is listening to concerns from residents in Ancaster, Stoney Creek, Waterdown and in the downtown who are calling for more police action to crack down on break-ins, speeding and vandalism in their neighbourhoods.

The mayor said he is willing to support hiring more police officers, but he was hesitant to identify a particular number.

He said the Hamilton Police Service has a lower per capita number of officers than the provincial average, which is “putting some strain on our police service. I’m in favour of having more police.

“The right number is something I don’t have.”

But Eisenberger points out that based upon Hamilton’s recent crime statistics break-ins and vandalism are trending downwards.

Eisenberger is running for re-election in the Oct. 22 municipal election.

He is being challenged by Jim Davis, Paul Fromm, Henry Geissler, Carlos Gomes, Edward Graydon, Todd May, Michael Pattison, George Rusich, Phil Ryerson, Ute Schmid-Jones, Vito Sgro, Ricky Tavares, Mark Wozny and Nathalie Xian Yi Yan.