Falls to get cannabis store
Niagara Falls will receive at least one government- run pot shop when recreational marijuana becomes legal next July.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Coun. Wayne Thomson read a letter from Ontario Ministry of Finance sent to the city and dated Nov. 28 that the popular tourist destination has been identified “for the location of at least one initial cannabis retail store by July 2018.”
Thomson, along with Mayor Jim Diodati, voiced their disappointment when the Honeymoon Capital wasn’t among the first 14 cities announced earlier this month by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to host a legal pot shop next July.
The LCBO, which will run new marijuana stores through a subsidiary, announced Barrie, Brampton, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vaughan, and Windsor in the first wave.
Thomson and Diodati said they were surprised Niagara Falls, which welcomes an estimated 14 million visitors annually, wasn’t among the first communities announced.
Thomson told the Niagara Falls Review earlier this month he planned on bringing forward a motion at Tuesday’s council meeting calling on the province to set up a pot shop in the community.
Premier Kathleen Wynne told the Review on Nov. 10 the first 14 municipalities announced don’t make up the full list of where the first 40 stores are going to be.
When asked if she anticipated Niagara Falls to be one of them, Wynne said: “I don’t know. ( The LCBO is) making these decisions based on the business metrics that they use to locate stores around the province.”
The province previously announced that as many as 40 stores would open next year, with 40 more added a year later.
The province plans to set up approximately 150 standalone cannabis stores by 2020.
The province said consumers will also be able to access cannabis through an online retail website.
Thomson said he was surprised, but pleased, to read Sousa’s letter.
Mayor Jim Diodati joked the province heard about Thomson’s planned resolution, and “they cut him off at the pass.”
“They ( announced) it before you had a chance to pass your resolution,” said Diodati before crediting Thomson for his public push on behalf of Niagara Falls.
“Good job on that, councillor.” Thomson, who is also chairman of Niagara Falls Tourism, has said having a legal recreational marijuana store in Niagara Falls would increase its visitation “substantially, create all kinds of jobs, and really be an economic opportunity for us.”
“You look at what’s happened in the States where it’s been legalized, the influx ( of visitors) and the tourism and the business opportunity is unbelievable,” he said.
“Here we have a border community which doesn’t have this opportunity across the border ( in Niagara Falls, N. Y .). They’d be flooding over here, and business wise, this would be so good for the province, so good for the city, jobs and opportunities and business promotion and marketing as a result of that would be unbelievable.”
Thomson said he talked about the issue during a recent function in Niagara Falls attended by Wynne, Minister of Finance Charles Sousa, and the tourism minister.
Thomson said he has never smoked marijuana, but shared his thoughts about how having a government- run pot shop in the city would “stimulate” economic development and tourism.
“They knew what the objective was. All we did was push them in the area of economic development and business sense.”
Diodati said Queen’s Park politicians and their staffs have their “finger on the pulse” of public opinion at all times, and were “well aware of our comments and our feelings” about Niagara Falls hosting a governmentrun pot shop.
“I’m sure it created a bit of a conversation because a business model logic would dictate that you’re going to want to open up the business where you’re going to have the most opportunity for success,” he said.
“Niagara Falls is one of those places. We’ve got the critical mass, we’ve got some of the busiest liquor stores in the province, it would stand to reason that they’re going to be equally as successful by opening up these other businesses in Niagara Falls.”
Sousa has wrote municipal leaders and said Ontario’s store rollout aims to achieve the right geographic distribution across the province to reduce the number of illegal marijuana dispensaries that have opened since the federal government announced it will legalize marijuana.
The public will also be notified about the proposed store locations and will be asked to provide feedback directly to the LCBO, said Sousa, adding none of the retail stores will be located near schools.
Thomson said he supports the idea of not locating such stores near sensitive uses, such as schools.
“I think they’ve been very careful because this is a sensitive issue.”
At the same time, Thomson said people shouldn’t “fool” themselves.
“Don’t act like this doesn’t exist today. It’s on the streets today. What we’re doing is putting in controls to put the ( illegal) people out of business, and that’s a smart idea.”
Diodati said he believes the store/ s will be somewhere in the tourist core.
Ken Todd, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the city also received a letter from the finance staff outlining the process.
“We haven’t got a date picked yet, but we’re going to meeting with them at the staff level before the Christmas break. There’s a whole bunch of parameters they want to look at, like a location selection.”
Todd said the operation of these outlets will be through a subsidiary of the LCBO.
“The actual retail distribution of the cannabis shops will not be in an LCBO, they will be standalone businesses,” he said, adding a location has not been selected yet in Niagara Falls.
“I think what they’re doing is they’re looking for a current retail location where they can go in and set up. I don’t think they’re looking for necessarily a brand new build because they couldn’t get up and running by that time.”