It’s a bummer, dude
Province announces which areas will be first to offer retail marijuana; Niagara is not on the list.
Despite the local buzz about legal marijuana, setting up a pot shop in Niagara was apparently not a high priority for the provincial government.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which will run new marijuana stores through a subsidiary, announced Friday the first 14 cities where legal pot shops will be located when recreational marijuana becomes legal next July.
And Niagara wasn’t among them.
Being omitted from the list was a surprise to Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati – who represents a city where pro-marijuana events are held annually on April 20, and the Grow Up Cannabis Conference & Expo held in early October attracted thousands of participants.
“I was surprised because Niagara Falls has millions of tourists, and that someone would have to leave the community is a little bit surprising,” he said, adding he has yet to learn the province’s rationale or the criteria behind the decision.
“I’d be very interested to know how they came up with the selections they have, and if there’s going to be a secondary announcement of locations as well,” he said. “We’ve got some of the busiest liquor stores in the province in Niagara Falls.”
The initial list of cities includes Brampton, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vaughan and Windsor. The LCBO along with Ontario Ministry of Finance staff will meet with representatives of those communities to discuss exact locations for the stores.
The province, however, previously announced that as many as 40 stores would open next year, with 40 more added a year later. By 2020, the province plans to set up approximately 150 standalone cannabis stores.
The provincial government also plans to allow consumers to purchase cannabis products through an online retail website.
New Democratic Party representatives, however, criticized the Liberal government plan, saying it will not make a dent into organized crime associated with the sale of the drug.
Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates pointed out that by legalizing marijuana, the federal government intended to ensure the drug would be sold safely, while also keeping roads safe and money out of the hands of criminals.
“How does the idea of not selling legal marijuana in Niagara help these goals?” Gates asked. “If they want residents to buy it legally they need to have a place in their community to do so.”
NDP Community Safety and Corrections Critic Taras Natyshak echoed Gates’ comment, calling plans for the sale of marijuana “a really disappointing package” that “leaves Ontarians with many more questions than answers.”
“Forty retail locations cannot possibly serve the demand in a province the size of Ontario. By failing to locate retail outlets in places like Niagara, Brantford, Peterborough, Cornwall, Sarnia, and North Bay and leaving large communities like Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa under served, it’s clear that Kathleen Wynne doesn’t get it,” Natyshak said. “By severely restricting retail access to cannabis, her plan won’t put a dent in organized crime or stop the flow of unregulated cannabis to the market.”
Last week, Finance Minister Charles Sousa wrote municipal leaders and said Ontario’s store rollout aims to achieve the right geographic distribution across the province and to reduce the number of illegal marijuana dispensaries that have opened since the federal government announced it will legalize marijuana.
“Our proposed approach is to build on the expertise and back-office capabilities of the LCBO to set up the Crown Corporation,” Sousa said in the letter to municipalities. “Our priority is to reduce the illegal market by building on our strengths to create an efficient and secure system for people across the province.”
The public will also be notified about the proposed store locations and will be asked to provide feedback directly to the LCBO, Sousa said, adding none of the retail stores will be located near schools.
Ontario was the first province to announce a detailed plan to sell and distribute recreational marijuana and will set the legal age to purchase it at 19.
The federal government introduced legislation in April with a goal of legalizing and regulating the use of recreational pot by July 1, 2018, but left it up to individual provinces to design their own distribution system and usage regulations.