Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli says the government will be providing $40 million over the next two years to municipalities concerning the implementation of private retail operators selling cannabis in communities next spring.
He outlined the government plan at a meeting Thursday with council candidates, first nations and police chiefs in the Nipissing riding.

He says the $40 million works out to atleast $10,000 per municipality.

He says there were a lot of questions but this is a consultation stage at this point.

“Do you want it spent per capita, per household ? Do you think it should be spent on communities that opt out? They had a lot of comments. There were a lot of mixed comments, across the board. We’re taking all this information back, ” Fedeli says.

Fedeli says municipalities will have until early next year to opt out.

He says in North Bay there’ll be a motion at the next council meeting to be a host community.

He says the advice they get from municipalities will be put in provincial guidelines.

“We’ll take the advice we got from this session and add that to what we’re learning right across Ontario and put that in a set of guidelines. Things like how close a store should be to a school or a recreational facility,” he says.

Fedeli says there will be some flexibility for municipalities.

Fedeli says selling cannabis right now is illegal and other than at retail stores or in on line applications it will remain so after the legislation becomes law.

“Those sellers will be faced with a fine of up to a $250,000 that is collected by the municipality. And if you’re a corporation and you knowingly lease a building to a marijuana dispensary you could be fined up to $1 million initially and $100,000 a day,” he says.

Filed under: Cannabis legislation, MPP Vic Fedeli