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Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • F R I D AY, D E C E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 5
Liquor stores aim to sell marijuana ‘Best suited’ to become weed dealers Jeff Nagel Black Press Liquor stores – both private- and government-run outlets – should be authorized to sell recreational marijuana when the federal government delivers on its election promise to bring in a new regulated system. That’s the pitch coming from the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, which represents government store workers, and the B.C. Private Liquor Store Association. The two groups, normally competitors, joined forces Wednesday to argue their stores are well qualified to responsibly handle legalized marijuana, alongside beer, wine and spirits. “We haven’t been aligned in the past but we are aligned on this issue,” said Damian Kettlewell of the private stores association. “We’re suggesting that we have the experience and the knowledge and, eventually, the product training to sell this product in liquor stores.” He emphasized the aim is to serve as the retailers for recreational pot only, and not compete with existing medical marijuana providers. Liquor stores are already required to check ID to ensure patrons are over 19 to prevent alcohol purchases by youth, said BCGEU president Stephanie Smith. “Liquor stores provide the most strictly controlled system for accessing a controlled substance, and are best suited for the retailing of non-medical marijuana,” she said. “We have an effective warehousing, retail and distribution system in place. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far set no timeline to legalize and regulate non-medical marijuana. The City of Vancouver has been developing its own licensing system to authorize a limited number of marijuana storefronts and some other municipalities have considered a similar approach. Continued: POT SALES/ p13
A system that captures methane gas at the Bailey Landfill has prevented 1.4 million square metres from being released directly into the atmosphere. That is equal to about 20,000 tonnes of GHG (CO2) equivalent.
Chilliwack eyes green options from its landfill methane capture system Money earned by reducing methane output at the landfill could fuel other green initiatives, council decides Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Chilliwack council had a choice to make this week about the city’s greenhouse gas emission offsets. Council had to satisfy requirements by the Climate Investment Branch of B.C. Ministry of Environment’s Climate Action Secretariat, to either sell the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
offsets (created by flaring methane at the landfill), or put them toward achieving carbon neutrality, if required, at some later date. Chilliwack council voted Tuesday to move forward to negotiate the sale of the city’s emission offsets from operating its landfill gas management system at the Bailey Landfill. An offset is created by calculating the difference between the
amount of GHG that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere had measures not been in place to prevent it. Those offsets can then be sold to larger carbonemitters to help them reduce their overall carbon footprint. After monitoring and other costs were factored in, Chilliwack is expected to make between $75,000 to $275,000 from the sale of those offsets, and that money could be reinvested into the landfill infrastructure and operation. When the issue came up for discussion at the council meeting, Coun. Chuck Stam floated the idea of specifically earmark-
ing those offset funds for electric vehicles. “It would be nice to reinvest it back into green technology,” said Stam, who later admitted green initiatives within the landfill system itself would work as well. Staff’s original recommendation was to sell the offsets and return the funds back into the landfill reserve, but council indicated it had an appetite for making those funds used on environmentally friendly projects. The city is still working toward carbon neutrality, and will likely end up buying offsets in the future, if required to do so by Continued: CARBON/ p10
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