Kitchener won’t be the only city in our area getting an LCBO-run cannabis store.
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie said Tuesday that he had received a call from the province informing him a store will also be set up in Guelph.
“Guelph has been chosen as a spot for at least one of the cannabis retail locations by July 2018,” he said in an interview.
The LCBO is planning to have 40 marijuana stores open for business by July 2018, when the drug is legalized in Canada, and expand that to 150 stores by 2020.
The agency announced earlier this month that it had selected 14 communities to play host to some of those stores. Kitchener was on that list, as were Hamilton, Brampton and Mississauga.
Guelph’s store is planned to be one of the initial 40.
The province has said that it wants to see cannabis stores located away from schools, and in spaces that might help discourage illegal dispensaries from opening.
Cambridge is also under consideration for a retail cannabis store, according to a news release issued by MPP Kathryn McGarry.
According to McGarry, a public consultation process will take place before any site is selected for a store.
The same thing is expected to happen in Guelph and every other city where stores are located.
“They promised us they will be taking local comments into consideration,” Guthrie said.
Guelph’s mayor says he hopes the provincial and federal governments will provide municipalities with support for any “unintended consequences” of legal sales, given that revenue from marijuana will go to higher levels of government.
“We just want to make sure that we are getting the right resources and the right levels of help,” he said.
