Kawartha Lakes council green lights retail cannabis stores

Excerpt from article by Bill Hodgins on My Kawartha

Kawartha Lakes Coun. Doug Elmslie says the nation is stuck with its legalized cannabis legislation, so it may as well make the most of it.

Elmslie, who says he didn’t support the federal decision, was the first Kawartha Lakes councillor to move a motion asking council to back the idea of “opting in” — a move that clears the way to allow the retail stores in the municipality.

He was backed by every member of council present. Coun. Pat Dunn was absent for the vote. Municipalities across the province were given until Jan. 22 to decide whether to opt-in on allowing the stores, or voting to opt out.

Prior to the vote, Coun. Ron Ashmore had asked for a better breakdown on the funding implications of opting in or opting out. Municipal chief administrative officer Ron Taylor explained that there would be two different pools of money flowing the City. The first, he said, is estimated at $100,000 to deal with the expected costs — at least in the short term — with legalization. The second instalment would depend on how council would vote on the opt-in. If the answer was no, there would be funding flowing forward to Kawartha Lakes but it would amount to about $5,000. He estimated the city could receive close to $100,000 by opting in.