With the consumption and sale of cannabis scheduled to become legal in Canada this year, the City of Airdrie is preparing to integrate the new legislation into its bylaws and licensing rules.
However, when the issue was brought to council March 19, discrimination became a hot topic.
In response to a question from Coun. Ron Chapman about establishing a quota on the number of cannabis businesses that could set up in the city, Mayor Peter Brown said treating cannabis businesses any differently than other businesses once the federal legislation comes into effect is not something the City should consider.
“In looking at a legal product…how can we have a separate set of rules for one and not all?” he said.
Intergovernmental Liaison Leona Esau said municipalities have been warned about discriminating against cannabis retailers because the substance will be deemed legal at the national level.
“Seven City of Airdrie departments have reviewed federal and provincial legislation to determine what is requiring municipal consideration,” she said, adding the provincial legislation will impact the City’s Land Use Bylaw (LUB) and the Smoking and Business Licensing bylaws.
Federal and provincial legislation and regulations have already been passed, which stipulate how cannabis can be grown, who can consume it and where it can be consumed, as well as introduced stricter penalties for impaired driving.
William Czaban, senior planner, said the City’s LUB already includes definitions and regulations for dealing with medical marijuana production, but needs to be expanded to include the new cannabis legislation, including businesses selling recreational cannabis.
The provincial legislation treats cannabis consumption similar to tobacco use, according to Kari Kitiuk, assistant City clerk. It restricts the smoking of cannabis in public spaces to anywhere smoking tobacco or vaping is already restricted, including schools, hospitals, bars, outdoor theatres and playgrounds.
The City’s Economic Development team is recommending cannabis businesses be treated the same as any other business when applying for a business license, according to Team Lead Kent Rupert.
Rupert said the province has established regulations that look into the background of the owners and investors in any cannabis businesses and that this would be “sufficient enough background to safeguard the community.”
Czaban said the City will need to be careful to ensure what it ultimately decides to include in the LUB in terms of regulating where a cannabis business is allowed to set up is fair to all.
“Any separation distances that we set in the LUB will essentially cut both ways, so to speak. They would prevent a cannabis retail from establishing certain locations where there are…land uses we are trying to protect,” he said.
The result, Czaban said, would be that other businesses might then not be able to set up around an existing cannabis retailer if such a restriction on separation distances was implemented.
Brown said he was concerned the province has yet to indicate how much, if any, taxes collected from the sale of cannabis products would be coming to municipalities to offset the costs of dealing with enforcement and social issues. He added, an advocacy group of mayors of municipalities of all sizes is fighting “very hard” to get a portion of these taxes.
Communications Team Lead Jill Iverson said the City is required to conduct public engagement prior to the legislation becoming law. Iverson was at the meeting to ask council to consider and give approval to a plan to ask residents for feedback.
Council unanimously approved a recommendation directing staff to seek public input on key items, including, but not limited to, consumption in public places and retail store location and/or restrictions.
