Pot shift leaves cities dazed and confused

The Progressive Conservativegovernment's decision to upend the model for selling cannabisjust two months before legalization has left Ontario municipalities hungry for details about the much bigger role they maysuddenly play in theprivate pot market.

The government announced Monday private retailers will be allowed to sell marijuana starting April 1, 2019, while the province will handle online sales of the drug starting this Oct. 17.

• Ontario to allow private retailers to sell cannabis, province will handle online sales
• What you need to know about Ontario's cannabis plans

City officials who run everything from zoning andbylaw to policing andpublic health wereanticipating cannabis would be sold in much the same way liquor sales are controlled across the province by the LCBO.

MathieuFleury, a downtown councillor who's been dealing with illegal dispensaries in hisRideau-Vanierward for the last couple of years, said he felt likehe knew what he was getting under the old scheme.

"Nowthey're essentially putting all the pressures on Ontario municipalities," Fleurysaid.

'There's a lot of confusion'

Fleurysaid Monday'sannouncement of the new retail model left him with more questions than answers.

"It does feel a bit off the cuff, [like they're] not really strategically thinking about some of those issues," he said.

Cities remain in the dark about how much control they'll have over the location of cannabis stores, how many will be allowed to operate at any one time, and how rules designed to control them will be enforced, Fleurysaid.

He wonders whether the city will be grantedspecial authority overcannabis stores, much like the powers it was given toregulate the number of payday loan storefronts.

The Ontario government willspend the coming months consulting municipalities, and will give them the chance to opt out of the cannabis scheme entirely, effectively banning pot shopswithin their city limits. That decision will likely be left to new city councils elected Oct.22.

The province has promised to give Ontario municipalities $40 million from the federal excise taxover two years to help with the transition to legal cannabis, a move welcomed by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Both Ottawa Public Health and the Ottawa Police Service said they need time to review the province's new direction for marijuana sales before reacting to the change.

City mulls its budding role in sale of cannabis

6 years ago

Duration 0:35

Coun. Mathieu Fleury said Ontario's new pot plan means Ottawa will now have a different strategy than Quebec, where cannabis sales will be controlled by the Socit Qubcoise du Cannabis (SQDC).