Municipalities want whiff of B.C’s pot plans

B.C. municipalities plan to debate next week how to press the provincial government to include them in its plans for cannabis as federal legalization fast approaches.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities will vote on a special resolution Sept. 27 at its annual convention. The resolution, which addresses their role in a provincial cannabis framework ahead of legalization next July, was put forth by the union’s executive.

It calls for “fulsome and meaningful” consultation with the provincial government, adequate provincial funding to cover costs related to implementing its framework, a fair share of taxes for cities and respect for municipalities’ “choice, jurisdiction and authority” with regards to land use, zoning and other city hall concerns.

B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said he’ll address some of these concerns at the convention.

The UBCM found only seven per cent of members who responded to a survey it conducted last spring had been directly consulted by the federal government, its cannabis legalization task force or the provincial government.

About 79 per cent said downloading of duties onto local governments was one of their top three concerns, followed by public safety issues (46 per cent) and respect for jurisdiction and authority (44 per cent.)

“I want to make sure that they are consulted and that they are able to have their say,” Farnworth said. “That, to me, is particularly important.”

Farnworth said the province has met with federal officials to discuss legalization and expressed concerns about the legalization timeline. He said it’s imperative regulations are carefully designed so that organized criminals are excluded and children are protected.

“Those should be your priorities, not how much money you’re going to make,” he said.

White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin, who represents Metro Vancouver on the union’s executive, said he’s among municipal staff who feel senior levels of government haven’t been listening to their concerns about legalization.

“We’re just kind of being ignored,” he said.

“Which is too bad, because we’re the ones who are going to have to implement it.”

Baldwin wants to know whether B.C. will follow Ontario’s lead by having cannabis sales run by its liquor board or work on an ad hoc basis by relying on dispensaries like Vancouver and other cities.

According to the UBCM survey, about 55 per cent of respondents said their board or council hadn’t expressed a preference, while the rest were split between dispensaries (11 per cent), liquor stores (seven per cent), existing retail stores (seven per cent) and any federally regulated or other model.

Land-use and zoning bylaws are the key means by which municipalities would regulate a dispensary model, Baldwin said.

“It has to go through public hearings and all that stuff and it just makes it that much more difficult for someone to throw up a pop-up shop,” he said.

Executive member Kerry Jang, a Vancouver city councillor, said the resolution was drafted in response to the federal government ignoring municipalities on legalization and the previous provincial government not talking about it.

Early conversations with Farnworth suggest this will change, Jang said.

“Because the federal government has been so poor at actually sharing information across the country — both provincially and municipally — people are taking it upon themselves to drive the agenda,” Jang said.

He said Ontario’s liquor board decision and Vancouver’s proliferation of dispensaries are examples of this.

“I want to make sure that they are consulted and that they are able to have their say.” — Mike Farnworth