Council leaning toward pot shops
Mayor opposed But majority set to endorse retail outlets in City
While Mayor Drew Dilkens remains opposed, at least six of 10 city councillors are leaning — from “slightly ” to “very, very heavily ” — toward allowing retail cannabis sales in the city.
The issue comes to a head at a Jan. 21 city council meeting, one day before the Jan. 22 deadline set by the province for municipalities to opt out of retail sales.
The Star managed to reach seven councillors in recent days. One, Ward 5’s Ed Sleiman, said he was “on the fence,” but the rest expressed varying levels of support for opting in. If that majority holds, Windsor would be a candidate for one of the 25 initial stores opening April 1 throughout the province, owned by private operators selected by lottery. Some councillors said their minds could still be changed by the results of a recently completed public survey and the contents of a staff report expected Friday afternoon, as well as the opinions of delegates speaking at the council meeting.
“But it would take something very substantial to convince me otherwise,” said Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie, who said he’s “leaning very, very heavily at voting to opt in.”
With the government promising many more thousands of dollars in funding to municipalities that opt in, the new jobs that would help diversify the economy, and putting a dent in black market sales of unregulated cannabis, “I think it’s important for us to opt in,” he said.
“I think it’s important for us to opt in right away.” Dilkens however, is urging a “wait and see approach,” concerned that the city has little control over where these stores can be located and the potential impact of weed stores popping up in a downtown the city is trying to revitalize. While municipalities that opt out can opt in later, at any time, once they opt in it’s permanent.
Three towns in the county — Tecumseh, LaSalle and Lakeshore — have opted out and Leamington has opted in, though no county municipality has the minimum 50,000 population to qualify for a store in this first round. ChathamKent, which opted in, is the closest municipality with enough people to potentially qualify. Ontario is providing $40 million over two years to help municipalities with the implementation of retail stores. The first $15 million has already been confirmed for all municipalities whether they opt in or not (Windsor’s getting $253,279). But most of the remaining money will go to municipalities that have not opted out by Jan. 22. In addition, the province is promising half of any federal excise duty on cannabis after the first $100 million to municipalities that have not opted out as of Jan. 22.
That’s a lot of money — millions of dollars over time — the city would be losing if it opted out, said Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin. If you opt out and then opt in later, you’re not eligible, he said.
“For me, it’s a simple reality that we may choose to opt out today, but eventually we will have stores in this community. I don’t want to forgo perpetual revenues because the first two years we were scared of marijuana.”
Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante said many people envision people congregating around a weed store and smoking outside it, but he thinks these retail outlets will be more like the Beer Store: People will purchase what they want and head home. “I don’t think as many people will be as fearful of these outlets as they are right now,” he said, stating he’s “slightly leaning toward opting in,” mainly because of the revenue promised by the province.
If there is no local store, the only other way to buy cannabis legally is online. That means someone getting off work on a Friday afternoon and wanting a joint would have to wait for delivery or opt for the black market, he said. “There’s a risk that the black market will still exist to a certain degree for as long as the retail option is not available,” Costante said.
The moral decision to legalize has already been made by the federal government, said Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak, who said he believes if it’s legal, people should have the choice to buy it locally. Others noted that this region is already a major player in the growing cannabis industry (with the presence in Leamington of industry leader Aphria) and it would be hypocritical to grow it here but not allow retail sales. Kaschak said that because the licences are so limited at the start, “we in the City of Windsor should be the leaders in Essex County, showing we’re the ones who want to take this on.” Ward 3’s Chris Holt was another councillor leaning toward opting in. “Unless I hear compelling evidence from the delegates against, I’m fairly certain I will oppose opting out,” he wrote in a message. Councillors who could not be reached were Ward 7’s Irek Kusmierczyk, Ward 1’s Fred Francis and Ward 6’s Jo-Anne Gignac. Ward 10’s Jim Morrison said his main reason for leaning toward opting in is that the highest level of government in the country has made it legal.
“I feel like this is where it’s going, it’s coming,” he said, expressing hope that a retail operation would eliminate the black market. “We’re not going to be inundated with pot stores all over the place,” Morrison said. In fact, he said, “we’ll be lucky to get one” of the initial 25.
“I don’t think we should miss out on the first wave.”