Town of Lakeshore council “opts in” for cannabis retail shop

by Julianna Bonnett 

Last Tuesday, Councillors with the Town of Lakeshore voted in favour of notifying the Ontario government it would be a willing host of a brick-and-mortar cannabis retail shop within the community.

  After having a 5 to 3 vote in favour, Council reps for the Town of Lakeshore decided it was time to move forward with having a cannabis retail shop after roughly one year of opting out of having one. In early 2018, the province announced municipalities could “opt out” of having a cannabis retail shop, but could still have the right to “opt in” in the future.

  Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain said the decision of having a retail cannabis shop was something he voted against last year, but then decided to change his mind.

“We just didn’t have the answers to the questions that we were looking for,” Bain said of his past position on the subject. “We decided it was something to really think about and review over the next year.”

  On November 4, the Town of Lakeshore hosted an open house to give the Town a chance to voice their opinions on the subject.

“After we held that open house, we heard so many different opinions, which was expected,” Bain explained. “There was a lot of people in favour of it and many that were not, it was so 50/50.”

According to Bain, after much discussion, it was noticed that having a retail shop in Lakeshore would create jobs in the area and also help with the job losses having been experienced. 

“We know that bringing this in will help with job creation and help Lakeshore move forward,” he said.

  Along with Lakeshore, Essex, Kingsville, Amherstburg, and Leamington have all opted in for a cannabis retail shop as well.