Mississauga council set to consider lifting prohibition on pot shops

Since the federal government legalized cannabis products in 2018, it can feel like dispensaries are everywhere.

It’s easy to forget that in Ontario, 66 municipalities opted-out of having such establishments within their boundaries and continue to today.

One of those cities is Mississauga, but recent discussions at City Hall seem to imply an impending change of course for the rapidly growing city.

While an attempt to lift the prohibition on pot shops in 2021 was voted down by City Council, another attempt is in the works, spearheaded by one of those who originally voted “no.”

Councillor Dipika Damerla has changed her tune in the years since the last vote. She calls it a result of fighting for years, unsucessfully, to shut down an illegal dispensary in her ward.

“The system just doesn’t work. So we’re in the situation in Misissauga where I cannot stop the illegal sale of cannabis, but we are stopping the legal guys and that’s not a tenable situation.”

After reading a report from city staff that says 46 per cent of Mississauga’s cannabis users are purchasing their supply from illegal suppliers, Damerla feels the better approach is to reduce the reliance on the black market with legal, regulated products.

She is hoping to get a motion before City Council in a week and half to introduce legal pot shops to Mississauga.

While Damerla’s motion seems to have early support from others on Council like Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who voted in favour in 2021, Councillor Carolyn Parrish opposed the idea.

Reached by email, Parrish told Global News she views the regulated supply as a positive but worries about too many stores opening too quickly, creating clustering issues and potential financial setbacks for those involved.

“Experience in places like St. Lawrence Market show vendors will not use common sense to avoid clustering. The strongest survive. Other weaker owners go bankrupt, often losing a lifetime savings.”

Parrish also worries about the impact of potential clustering in socioeconomically-challenged neighbourhoods.

Aside from being 150 metres away from schools there are no other rules as to where dispensaries can open up.

In her email Parrish wrote that she will vote “no” on the motion until the province gives cities more location control.

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“I don’t see the reluctance and I’m sure prospective store owners would not object to having some direction as to better locations for a successful business … The private sector does extensive investigation before locating a new outlet. We should be doing the same thing for these shops.”

City staff’s report finds that four years in to legalization, clustering has not been an issue in neighbouring cities like Brampton, Toronto and Burlington.

If it does become an issue in this city, the president and CEO of Mississauga’s Board of Trade feels consumer dollars will thin the herd quickly.

“The ability to operate within a safe, regulated market is paramount,” said Trevor McPherson. “I think it’s much more important than trying to get the entire regulatory framework perfect.”

Councillor Damerla’s motion to opt-in will be introduced to a city committee next week in hope of being passed on to Council the following week.

With her changed outlook and some new faces on Council Damerla said she feels confident her motion will pass, but also cautious.

“We’ll see how my Council colleagues feel. It’ll be a robust debate.”