When government-run marijuana stores open up, might there be one at the Beaconsfield Shopping Centre or the Beaurepaire Village? These possibilities greatly disturb resident Ben Anson.
“I don’t think pot has a place in our community,” he said.
Anson planned to go to the Beaconsfield council meeting on Monday night to demand leadership there take action.
“Number one: will Beaconsfield be allowing pot shops within the city? Number two: will they act quickly to protect Beaconsfield families and ban the retail sale of pot in all forms?” he told Global News, reading some of the prepared questions he was bringing to council.
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He worries that since Quebec opened an SAQ outlet at the Beaconsfield Shopping Centre, they might open one of their new ‘Société québécoise du cannabis’ close by.
The decision to legalize recreational marijuana came from the federal government. Quebec just tabled a bill describing how the process will work here. But do municipalities have any power to say no to legal cannabis?
“We could restrict certain things within a commercial zone,” Beaconsfield mayor Georges Bourelle told Global News. “We could restrict the distance between where we would like to see a store and, say, a school or a park.”
Bourelle says cracking down too much on what will be a legal product could put Beaconsfield on the wrong side of the law.
“We certainly can put restrictions, but as far as saying ‘we’re going to prohibit something,’ that leaves us open to a legal challenge,” he said.
The Beaconsfield mayor thinks any blowback is better pointed at the province or federal government. He adds that there’s still plenty of time to plan.
“Right now we’re talking about 15 retail outlets that will be selling this in July of 2018. I doubt the first 15 outlets will consider Beaconsfield the primary place to do it,” he said.