(The Canadian Press/ Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By Alison Sandstrom

Council on cannabis

How many cannabis stores should P.A. have?

Jun 3, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Prince Albert city council is looking to put a cap on the number of cannabis stores allowed within city limits. While most of the city’s politicians support the idea of setting a limit at three, at least one councillor believes the issue should be left up to the free market.

Mayor Greg Dionne told council he was concerned by the province’s approach on cannabis and worried they would soon see rapid proliferation retailers selling the substance in Saskatchewan.

“I don’t want it to ever become the situation where we are with alcohol,” Dionne said, citing problems with alcohol abuse and dependence across Saskatchewan.

“I’ll tell you this, if we had a chance 20 years ago to restrict liquor board stores, we probably would have,” he continued. “Today we have that opportunity. Cannabis is new, it’s going to grow.”

Currently Prince Albert has two cannabis retailers, both on Second Avenue W. The mayor also alluded to the fact a third one was in the works in the east end of the city.

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Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp questioned why Prince Albert would provide a monopoly on the legal cannabis market to three businesses.

“Do we want to limit this kind of lawful enterprise,” she asked. “Especially considering that I think we know there is still unlawful sale of drugs in our community, including cannabis.”

New marijuana retailers pay a $20,000 fee to the city. Lennox-Zepp suggested if a bylaw were passed restricting new stores, Prince Albert could lose out on revenue.

“It’s very possible that a business enterprise will open up outside of city limits and we lose that property tax revenue, we lose out on collateral business,” she said.

Coun. Evert Botha who brought the idea to limit the number of cannabis stores in the city to council, closed the discussion. His initial motion, which would have also curtailed where liquor stores could set up shop, failed for lack of a seconder.

“This is not about restricting residents of the city of Prince Albert from being able to purchase their wine, beer, spirits or cannabis,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that our liquor and cannabis retailers can continue to grow and thrive in our community, employ residents and pay them a decent living wage and work with city council and administration towards the betterment of the lives of residents through responsible business practices.”

Council voted 6-1 to have administration draft a bylaw capping the number of cannabis stores in the city to three. That bylaw will come back to council for three readings and final approval at a later future council meeting.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom