The Chair of the Cariboo Regional District is back from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in Halifax where surprise, surprise, the regulation of cannabis was a hot topic.
Margo Wagner says there are still a lot more questions than answers…
“The general consensus through all of this, whether it was at NCLGA when we were up in Fort Nelson, whether it was even last year at UBCM or now at FCM, the general consensus is that this is getting pushed through too quickly, we are not getting, the Federal Government is not giving the provinces and then the municipal, like local governments, the time to get all of their i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”
Wagner says questions include where are you going to sell it, what hours will you be open and some communities don’t want dispensaries within their city limits which then pushes it into the Regional District and they don’t have business licenses…
“We have been told that they will still have to make an application to the Regional District for the ability to put something in and we have the right to say no, but the more municipalities that say no and the more regional districts that say no, all that is going to do is it’s going to go underground again. And the purpose of this from my understanding was to get rid of the black market.”
Wagner expects it to also be a hot topic at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention in September.