Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) is calling on the province to have a publicly-owned retailer sell marijuana.
SGEU said it makes sense for the government to consider a publicly-owned retailer after a survey released Thursday found 45 per cent of respondents favoured one.
“Support for a government-run marijuana retailer makes perfect sense in the context of how the public responded to other questions in the survey,” SGEU president Bob Bymoen said in a news release.
“People’s highest priority was preventing children and youth from accessing marijuana, and they overwhelming emphasized the importance of training requirement for retail staff.”
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Support for private retailers was split among small businesses (37 per cent), national corporate retailers (three per cent), and pharmacies (10 per cent).
Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan said the government will be working under the notion private retailers have majority support, stating that was the preferred method.
“We don’t want to be in the business of either retailing, warehousing, or distributing. We want to be in the business of regulating,” Morgan said on Thursday after the survey results were released.
Bymoen said he is disappointed with Morgan’s response.
“This government has an ideologically-driven opposition to a public retailer, but their own survey shows that Saskatchewan people feel otherwise,” Bymoen stated.
“A government-run marijuana retailer can serve Saskatchewan very well in terms of ensuring safe, responsible, high-quality service, and generating much-needed public revenue for the province.”
The Canadian Cancer Society also favours a government-led retail approach, stating problems with retail establishments selling tobacco to kids.
The Saskatchewan government said it will be releasing its framework document outlining the future of cannabis legalization in the province in the near future.
With files from David Baxter and The Canadian Press
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