Are cannabis stores finally coming to Mississauga?
Published March 8, 2021 at 6:01 pm
The spark needed to bring retail cannabis stores to Mississauga is there, says Mayor Bonnie Crombie.
After initially deciding not to allow retail cannabis stores back in January 22, 2019, Crombie believes it’s time again Canada’s sixth-largest city have the discussion to opt-in.
“I think we have the votes now,” Crombie told Insauga founder and publisher Khaled Iwamura.
“We have two (councillors) on the fence, but we think they’re going our way and once we can confirm them we’ll bring back the report and have the discussion.”
The Mississauga mayor says she couldn’t bring the motion back if they can’t win, but says work has been done “behind the scenes” to speak to councillors about their reservations.
“Sometimes these just take time,” Crombie said. “We’re very cautious, we like to do our homework. We made some specific asks of the province about zoning and sensitive locations and they’re not going to give us the right to choose the zoning or the locations, or the concentration of numbers.
Videos
“However, we’ve watched, we’ve observed the experience in other municipalities and we’ve learned there haven’t been a lot of issues frankly.”
In Peel Region, only Brampton opted-in. The city has seven retail cannabis store locations approved and a total of 33 existing locations or prospective stores listed according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) website.
While many of the licenses have yet to be distributed, Crombie says more and more have been issued.
“We have seen from the observations of others that it has been very smooth and I was the one that opened up the weed maps and showed my councillors that the black market, grey market is alive and well, largely because the price of the product and of course because we have not allowed the retail of cannabis products in Mississauga,” she continued.
Crombie maintains the city taking its time and doing its proper homework is important if retail cannabis stores are to get lit in Mississauga.
“I keep being asked and I keep saying, ‘Well, if I reintroduce it and it’s turned down again then what?'” Crombie explained. “If it’s turned down then we wait another couple of years to bring it back until things change.
“So, let’s just wait and learn about the experience in other municipalities and speak to those councillors that have reservations and when we think we have the votes we’ll bring it back.”
Photo by Aphiwat Chuangchoem from Pexels
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising