Survey shows most in city support retail pot shops
More than four in five local residents want brick-and-mortar pot shops in Windsor, according to the results of an online survey conducted by the city.
Of nearly 8,000 responses over a nearly two-month survey period, 81 per cent of the 5,411 respondents identified as being from Windsor and Essex County favour the city opting in to retail sales of cannabis. Mayor Drew Dilkens said the survey results are not enough for him to change his opposition to Windsor opting in. But the new numbers made public Friday afternoon are likely to provide more ammunition to the majority of councillors the Star identified this week as being either supportive, or leaning in favour, of opting in.
In an interview Friday, Dilkens acknowledged he’ll likely be on the losing side of a Jan. 21 city council vote. “I’m going to vote to opt out — I imagine most of council will vote to opt in,” the mayor said. The province has given Ontario municipalities until Jan. 22 to opt out of retail sales. Those which don’t respond by the deadline are automatically considered in favour of allowing privately operated pot shops in their retail zones.
In a 19-page report going to council, city solicitor Shelby Askin Hager said the survey’s 850 opt-in proponents who provided additional comments expressed concerns about “promoting illicit sales if no physical legal option is available” among reasons to vote in favour. Economic diversification and added convenience to access a product that was made legal in Canada in October were also cited. Among the 129 comments from the other side included those still opposed to the legalization of pot, while others advocated a “waitand-see” approach to Ontario’s launching in April of retail sales. Currently, the only legal supply of recreational pot for adults is through the online Ontario Cannabis Store.
Dilkens, who described the survey as “just one indicator” in the debate, is also in the wait-andsee camp. While “fundamentally not opposed” to retail sales, he said his biggest worry with what’s proposed is the lack of control for municipalities in where such retail shops can set up. The only restriction the province has placed on locations is that they cannot operate within 150 metres of any school. “At the heart of it, that’s my concern,” he said.
Hager’s report notes the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will “consider” local input on locations but that there is no obligation to do so and “the risk exists that the AGCO could approve store locations that are within close proximity to community centres, parks, hospitals, long-term care homes, addiction treatment facilities or other locally sensitive uses.” Given the “great number of unknowns,” city administration is advising that “the more cautious approach is to opt out now with the possibility of opting in later.” The biggest risks to opting out, according to Hager’s report, is “the lost opportunity for new business ventures” and city jobs, as well as the potential for “dramatically reduced” payments from the province to those municipalities that opt out, even to those that later decide to opt in. Not allowing local retail sales could also mean continuing “to allow illegal suppliers a ready market,” the report added. According to the staff report, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has endorsed the opt-out approach, and the Windsor Police Service has warned that opening cannabis stores in the downtown “could negatively affect” recent crime-fighting efforts.”