Port Colborne defers decision on pot shops
A report in front of Port Colborne councillors during their first meeting of the term included a recommendation to allow retail sales of marijuana in the city, but council chose to defer the decision to next year.
After more than an hour of debate on the issue at city hall on Monday night, council ultimately decided it had not yet given local residents enough time to voice their opinion on whether marijuana should be sold at storefronts. Every municipality in Ontario was given a one-time chance to opt out of the sale of marijuana at physical stores. The deadline to decide is Jan. 22, at which point all municipalities will be automatically registered to allow retail pot sales, unless they specifically opt out before then.
Regardless of which way council votes, residents of Port Colborne will still be able to legally purchase marijuana through the online Ontario Cannabis Store, and have it delivered via Canada Post. The decision in front of council is strictly about whether someone could open up a store within city limits who would sell directly to people looking to buy marijuana.
On that front, many around the Port Colborne council appeared to be leaning towards the opt-out, which would prevent physical sales of marijuana anywhere in the city.
Asked to explain the decision from staff to recommend taking the opt-in to allow retail pot sales, planning director Dan Aquilina said it makes the most sense.
“Cannabis is now legal,” said Aquilina. “In my opinion, you have zoning bylaws that apply to retail sales, and now you have a legal product to be sold there.”
He also noted that while the province has agreed to share revenues from the profit of marijuana sales with municipalities, taking the opt-out would mean losing out on that cash. Only municipalities who opt in to retail marijuana sales will get a cut of the profits, and municipalities who take the opt-out will instead receive a one-time payment of $5,000.
Ward 4 Coun. Ron Bodner was
one of the first to raise doubts about allowing marijuana to be sold at stores within the city.
“I’ve got some concerns that these stores may be targets for break-ins and robberies,” said Bodner.
Others, including Ward 2 Coun. Angie Desmarais, agreed with concerns about increased crime, saying people with ties to the “black market” will be the ones opening up marijuana stores.
“I’m really concerned about jumping on this bandwagon,” she said. “When we legalized alcohol we didn’t look enough at addictions, when we legalized gambling we didn’t look enough at addictions, and we’re doing the same thing again here.”
Ward 1 Coun. Donna Kalailieff said the city should “sit on the fence” and not opt in to the retail pot sales at first, and Ward 4 Coun. Harry Wells cast doubt on the entire idea of legalized marijuana sales.
“There’s a lot of misnomers about the benefits of this industry,” said Wells. “We need to know if this industry is even going to be a benefit to our society.”
Only a single member of the public, Sylvia Fanon, spoke during the debate, and she was vehemently opposed to marijuana, legal or otherwise.
“Cannabis smells absolutely awful,” she said. “This decision could have a very negative effect. I don’t want Port Colborne to become a tourist destination for pot.”
According to Fanon, if Port Colborne allows marijuana to be sold in stores, it will “drive away families” and instead attract “dubious individuals.”
“These people will scare away all the other customers. Business will be pulling up stakes and leaving the city,” said Fanon, who added that people will begin calling the city “Pot Colborne” if they can buy marijuana there.
At the end of the debate, council decided the city should conduct telephone surveys of local residents, and host an open house where people can give their opinion on the matter before making a decision. With only a few weeks to pull everything together, some councillors were concerned about not getting enough useful data.
“With the telephone interviews and the open house, it is the Christmas season and it could be difficult getting a hold of people,” warned Aquilina, who noted council only has one meeting, on Jan. 14, before the provincial deadline on Jan. 22. “The timeline is very tight, but we’ll do our best.”