What about us ?
Quesnel City Council plans to ask that question in a letter to both the Federal and Provincial Ministers that will be responsible for deciding how the revenue from the legalization of marijuana will be split.
Councillor Ron Paull made the suggestion at this week’s City Council meeting…
“The responsibility will fall to local governments for amending, administering, enforcing zoning, density bylaws along with the rules regarding smoking restrictions, public nuisance, safety concerns relating to building codes.”
In summary, Paull says municipalities are going to have a lot on their plate and therefore deserve a piece of the action.
But he says all the talk right now is that there would be a 50-50 split between the Federal Government and the provinces.
Mayor Bob Simpson noted however that they will likely need more than just some of the taxes collected from it…
“Because they can’t overvalue this product through taxation so that the illegal marijuana beats it on the street, so we need to be careful not say that the only revenue flow we’re going to get to pick up all of those responsibilities is actually from the tax.”
Simpson says what they need is fair compensation for the workload that is being put on them.