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Oro-Medonte, Severn say 'no' to retail cannabis — for now

Ramara pushes decision to Monday; 'The provincial and federal governments have messed this up,' says Ramara mayor
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Two of Orillia’s neighbours have opted out of allowing retail cannabis stores, while a third has yet to make up its mind.

Oro-Medonte council passed a motion at a recent meeting that will see it opt out “at this time.”

“We don’t think we have enough information to opt in at this time,” said Mayor Harry Hughes. “One of the things is the cost benefit. Is the municipality going to incur significant costs for policing, training, bylaw enforcement? That’s what we don’t know.”

He noted there is a national shortage of legal cannabis, leading him to believe the likelihood of the township getting a retail store, even if it opted in, “seems fairly remote for the distant future.”

The township invited residents to fill out a survey in December. Nearly 500 people took part, with 52 per cent being in favour of allowing retail cannabis stores.

Hughes wasn’t surprised by the close results.

“I know that people have many opinions on the cannabis issue,” he said.

Like Oro-Medonte, Severn Township offered its residents a chance to take part in a survey. Of the 424 respondents, 285 were in favour of opting in.

Severn Mayor Mike Burkett said while he respects the public’s opinion, he shared Hughes’s concerns about not having enough details.

“Without all of the information and knowing what’s going to happen, I think we’ve made the right decision at this time,” he said.

Council wants to know how much provincial money might be available to municipalities that opt in and what the requirements are to receive it.

The township isn’t necessarily closing the door on retail cannabis permanently, Burkett said.

“We always have the option in the future to opt in, but if you opt in, you can’t opt out (later),” he said. “We will revisit it as soon as we get more information.”

Ramara Township council seemed set to opt out, but it has put the decision on hold.

On Monday night, council deferred a report to its next committee-of-the-whole meeting.

“Our previous position was we were not going to agree to this,” said Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke.

Municipalities must decide by Jan. 22 whether to opt out. If they don’t meet that deadline, they will have opted in by default. Ramara’s next committee-of-the-whole meeting is Jan. 21, so it will require a special council meeting the same night to ratify whatever decision is made.

Like his counterparts in Oro-Medonte and Severn, Clarke wants more information before making a decision.

“Does every municipality get that funding or only municipalities that have stores?” he asked.

The province is “dangling a carrot and it looks great,” Clarke said, but he doesn’t appreciate council being put in a position where it has to make a quick decision based on scant information.

"The provincial and federal governments have messed this up," he said.


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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