Port McNeill’s recreational cannabis sales prohibition bylaw officially passed second reading, but not before residents made their voices heard at the public consultation that was held beforehand.
Roughly 12 people showed up to argue the bylaw, each taking their time to firmly address mayor and council at the June 18 meeting with some tough questions they wanted answered.
Two written submissions were also presented to council, from residents Sequoia Coe and Derek Koel, which were read aloud by Deputy Administrator Pete Nelson-Smith.
“My concerns regarding this bylaw are a few things,” wrote Coe. “Firstly, I do not understand how selling a soon-to-be legal substance can be banned. Putting a bylaw in place banning its sale is baffling to me — are you going to do the same with alcohol as well? Secondly, I understand the need to organize yourselves, but how was this not done over a year ago? There was more than enough time to conduct yourselves in a timely and efficient manner. This makes Port McNeill seem disorganized and behind the times at the very least.”
Koel wrote two letters to council, with one asking if Coun. Shelley Downey had a conflict of interest on the matter due to her owning a pharmacy.
“The Canadian Pharmacist Association states ‘Pharmacies should take a leading role in the distribution of medicinal marijuana’. Recent high profile deals have been struck between cannabis suppliers like Tilray Canada and pharmacy chains like Shoppers DrugMart — Considering this, and that Councillor Downey has an interest in our local pharmacy in Port McNeill, is Councillor Downey in a conflict of interest on this issue? Will Councillor Downey be voting on bylaw 687 zoning amendment and taking part in the public and in-camera discussions on this topic?”
Downey responded to Koel’s letter, stating she believes there is no conflict of interest. “What we are talking about here is retail cannabis… medicinal and retail are two separate things completely, and I do not believe I am in conflict by entering into discussion or voting on this.”
“If a retail outlet is banned in the Town of Port McNeill then presumably a pharmacy would get more business,” replied Koel.
“And that falls under Health Canada,” answered Downey.
Port McNeill Mayor Shirley Ackland stated the town is just looking at legal cannabis sales right now, and medicinal marijuana is not currently on the their agenda.
With the written submissions out of the way, one resident asked if the town would consider a public referendum to let the public decide on what they would like regarding legal cannabis sales.
Council thanked him for his comment.
“I know you say you don’t want to rush in to this, but how come this wasn’t done a year ago — getting a committee together,” asked resident Jordan MacKay.
“We could have started a year ago and still perhaps been in the same place,” replied Ackland. “There is no legislation that is currently expected to roll out July 2, there is over 40 amendments, we don’t expect to see any of this in the next couple weeks or months. What we’ve done by putting it into a zoning bylaw is it actually allows it to be put into a schedule of time so that it comes to a council meeting so you have that written record of what’s going forward. We still have ample time to have input from a committee.”
“Ample time, isn’t it (legal) July 2?” asked MacKay.
“No it won’t happen then,” replied Ackland. “There will be nothing that happens this summer, the earliest they are talking about now is Labour Day.”
“I still would have liked to have seen the committee done ahead of time rather than waiting till the last minute,” MacKay added.
Ackland recommended he put his name forth to be part of the marijuana committee.
Resident Gaby Wickstrom spoke next. “I am interested in hearing what the majority of our community thinks on the issue, because it’s very polarizing,” she said, adding, “I found the notifications leading up to this meeting hard to find — by that I mean minimum requirements were met.”
Wickstrom pointed out the notification on the town’s website wasn’t titled in such a way that anyone would know it concerned the retail sale of cannabis in the community unless they clicked through to actually see the notice. “I feel moving forward we need to have more of these discussions, though the current schedule doesn’t specifically lay out for more public consultation… I ask that further public consultation be dedicated solely to this topic, not squeezed in prior to a council meeting.”
Wickstrom finished her speech by asking if council would be willing to put together an online survey and send out fliers in everyone’s mailbox regarding the issue.
Another resident asked if the legal cannabis sales prohibition bylaw can ever be amended once it passes.
“Whether we want to see the sale of cannabis in town or not is almost irrelevant to this council,” replied Ackland, “It’s going to be made law sometime in the future by the federal government — all we can govern as a council is the zoning, where in the community is a good place for it. That’s what we are looking at.”
Quick facts:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated recreational marijuana will be legal in Canada as of Oct. 17;
Parksville, North Vancouver, Sidney, Comox and New Westminster have also temporarily banned the sale of recreational marijuana;
The Town of Port McNeill will be forming a marijuana committee to report back to council. The committee will be made up of a council representative, Town of Port McNeill staff member, RCMP, retail property owners, prospective non-medicinal cannabis retailers, residential interests, making up a group of seven;
The marijuana committee will bring recommendations forward to council in October-December who will then make a decision on whether Port McNeill will allow the sale of recreational cannabis inside the town’s boundaries.