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COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 52 ISSUE 03
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Mapleton council rejects cannabis sales By Aryn Strickland
Optimists celebrate 50 years - The Optimist Club of Moorefield celebrated its 50th anniversary with a dinner at the Maryborough Community Centre on Jan. 12. Members of the club’s executive are pictured with guest speaker and master of ceremonies Mike Farwell of 570 News radio. From left: vice president Mark Grasman, lieutenant governor/treasurer Dan McIntyre, president Jeremy Culling, Farwell and director Tim Bates. More photos on page 8 Photo by Jennifer Goertzen
Pettapiece responds to OMPF funding fears By Aryn Strickland DRAYTON PerthWellington MPP Randy Pettapiece told Mapleton council it’s unlikely every municipality will get the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF)
dollars they want this year. Pettapiece attended the Jan. 8 council meeting to provide an update from the provincial government and to address councillors’ questions. “Ontario has a structural deficit,” he said.
“This means the government is currently spending $14.5 billion more a year than it receives in income. In other words, we are spending around $40 million a day more than we are taking in. “It’s a staggering amount SEE MPP » 5
DRAYTON - Mapleton councillors are unanimous in their decision to prohibit retail cannabis stores in the township. Residents filled the council chamber to capacity on Jan. 8 to witness a vote on whether to allow cannabis stores in the township. Councillor Dennis Craven, the first to comment on the matter, clarified that opting out now does not prevent the township from allowing cannabis stores at a later date. Other members of council cited frustrations with the province’s handling of the legislation and with municipalities’ lack of control over the number and location of local pot shops. Councillor Marlene Ottens thanked residents for providing feedback, noting she received 50 to 60 letters on the issue. Quoting one letter, she said, “‘We have a civic duty to help ensure that this plan is rolled out in a socially responsible manner ...’ “I feel that this thing has been thrown on us too quickly with a lot of chang-
ing regulation and I feel as a responsible civic representative that we need to do this slowly.” Councillor Paul Douglas said he “flip-flopped a few times” over the vote, but ultimately he is disappointed in the province’s approach to the legislation. He does not consider possible funding from the province as enough of an incentive to allow cannabis stores at this time. “I am kind of disappointed in the way that it was rolled out and downloaded to a municipal decision,” Douglas said. “I don’t agree with the patchwork of municipalities across Ontario, some opting in and some opting out. If we opt in now there is no turning back.” Ahead of the vote, council heard from four delegates three from Mapleton - encouraging council to opt out. Kayla Vizcaino, 19, told council she grew up in Mapleton but is currently living in Windsor receiving treatment for marijuana addiction. Her troubles, she said, began when she was in high school. Echoing some of Vizcaino’s statement, coun-
cillor Michael Martin said engagement with Mapleton youths needs to be a priority moving forward. “When I think Mapleton, I don’t think of a pioneer into the retail side of recreational marijuana…” Martin said. Mayor Gregg Davidson said, “this is something that this council has not taken lightly … it’s a tough one because there are a lot of variables going up and down.” Noting the many changes to regulations ahead of the opt-in/opt-out deadline, Davidson said the biggest issue is municipalities not having control over the location and number of outlets. “We like to have control over our retail market; we would like to have control over how close it goes to a school,” he said. “For me when they changed it from 500 meters to 150 that was not good.” Davidson added, “The roll out has been a dismal nightmare right from the federal government on down to the provincial.” Some in the audience applauded when council voted unanimously to prohibit pot stores in Mapleton.
Minto council hears from both sides on cannabis issue By Patrick Raftis
Cannabis decision looms - Minto town council received input from citizens at a Jan. 8 public meeting on the upcoming decision on allowing cannabis sales within the municipality. From left: councillors Mark MacKenzie and Geoff Gunson, deputy mayor Dave Turton, Mayor George Bridge, treasurer/acting clerk Gordon Duff and councillors Ron Elliott, Judy Dirksen and Jean Anderson. Photo by Patrick Raftis favor of retail cannabis sales in the municipality. However two local residents who spoke at the meeting, attended by about 60 people, indicated they are gathering signatures on a petition asking council to opt out. Clifford resident Peter Buhrow said he went online and voted, but noted “there are a lot of people that can’t come out to a public meeting so we have stared a petition and we will get that to you as
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soon as we can.” Don Senek, also from Clifford, said he began the petition the day prior to the meeting. “I started yesterday and I got 42 names of people that said ‘No, we don’t want this.’ And I’ll get more if I need to,” Senek stated. Among the scheduled presenters at the meeting, which also included an open mic session (all speakers were limited to five minute pre-
sentations), was Dr. Matthew Tanenbaum of WellingtonDufferin-Guelph Public Health. Public health position “At public health we recommend for the time being you opt out and evaluate how things look for other municipalities that opt in before you do so yourself,” Tanenbaum stated. Burhow said, “Health professionals and government on both levels have been try-
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HARRISTON – Minto council heard arguments both for and against allowing retail cannabis outlets in the municipality at a public meeting here on Jan. 8. Ontario municipalities have until Jan. 22 to opt out of consideration for marijuana sales outlets under provincial legislation. All municipalities must make the determination or be considered opted-in, even though the province has announced none of the initial 25 private licenses to be issued in the spring will go to communities with populations below 50,000. A decision to opt in cannot be reversed, while a decision to opt out may be reversed in the future. Minto council has indicated it will make its decision at the Jan. 22 council meeting. A survey of Minto citizens was conducted though the town’s EngageMinto online platform, with 67 per cent of the 203 respondents voting in
“Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.” - Jimmy Carter
ing to get people to stop smoking for 50 years, and here we are now trying to get people to smoke cannabis to add to the problems we are already facing with cancer and other ailments from this use.” Burhow added the province’s decision to place a population limit on the first round of license locations “is a good opportunity” to opt out. “This will give the small municipalities the opportunity to see what problems these cities encounter and how they go about solving the additional costs involved in policing and bylaw enforcement,” he said. Senek said the 50,000 population limit has created a lack of urgency among Minto officials about the issue. “We’re here to ask you to go on record that we don’t want pot shops here in Minto in the future, whenever it is,” he stated. Senek said legalization hasn’t taken the criminal element out of cannabis sales so far.
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“The black market is booming it hasn’t gone away because marijuana users are deterred by the higher dispensary prices once the government gets involved with the taxes and everything,” he said, adding users are “loyal to their local dealers and they’re open all 24 hours a day.” Senek said he believes cannabis sales would run counter to the town’s economic development efforts. “I think the Town of Minto has done a wonderful job of promoting itself. One of the slogans that Minto has is ‘Where your family belongs’ … and I can just see a brochure going out now … we’re going to tell people about our parks, our wonderful recreational facilities, our churches, our schools, our shopping and everything else and, oh yeah, by the way, we have marijuana pot shops now, for your convenience, where your family belongs.” Centre Wellington resident Silvana Sangiuliano SEE MINTO » 3
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