Clearview council says no to cannabis survey

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Clearview council has voted not to survey public opinion on retail cannabis sales in the township. In a presentation to council’s Oct. 25 meeting, Stayner entrepreneur Chase Quanbury said there is considerable support for a licensed cannabis store in the township, and there are sound arguments for allowing it.
Quanbury suggested the time is right for Clearview to align with the roughly 85 per cent of Ontario municipalities that currently allow retail cannabis sales. Collingwood opted in early, and Wasaga Beach recently decided to allow cannabis stores. Quanbury says people travelling to neighbouring municipalities to purchase cannabis may elect to do other shopping there as well, thus hurting local businesses. He cited statistics from other jurisdictions showing a sharp reduction in the black market and related crime since the advent of legal cannabis sales. A New Brunswick study credits the strict controls in place at licensed cannabis outlets for a 20 per cent reduction in usage by under-age youth.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has granted Quanbury a Cannabis Operator License and he has identified a potential location in a new commercial building in Stayner. He presented signatures from a number of Stayner businesses expressing support for his venture. Now he is asking council to revisit its 2019 decision to keep retail cannabis sales out of Clearview.
If retail cannabis stores were permitted, the township would not have the authority to limit the number of outlets, but could control the locations via zoning regulations. A provincial registry of cannabis dispensaries lists six in Collingwood and 11 in Wasaga Beach. Quanbury doubts that they are all viable in the long term, but says the market will determine how many will ultimately survive.
Council was asked to instruct staff to issue a public survey regarding retail cannabis stores in the township. Several councillors were sceptical about the level of participation, and whether a survey would accurately reflect the mood of the majority. Ward 2 Councillor Doug McKechnie proposed instead that a question on cannabis should be added to the ballot for the 2022 municipal election. That suggestion was shot down with Ward 5 Councillor Thom Paterson saying he can think of at least ten more pressing issues ranging from social housing to the future of the Small Halls that he would rather see put to a plebiscite. McKechnie then suggested that if any member of council feels strongly about the cannabis issue, they should skip the survey and simply bring forward a motion to reverse the 2019 decision.
Mayor Doug Measures shared that during the last municipal election campaign he was not approached by a single member of the public regarding his stance on cannabis sales. Shortly after that election, council voted by a margin of 7 to 2 not to allow cannabis retail in the township. He suggested that council will likely be asked again and again to reconsider that stance but that should they eventually give in, there will be no going back.

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