Although the village of Chesterville, in North Dundas Township, doesn’t have a doctor or dentist office, residents now have their own local cannabis shop.
Ontario could have 1,900 cannabis stores — more than Tim Horton’s restaurants
Patrick Meagher
Farmers Forum
TORONTO — Canada legalized cannabis on Oct 17, 2018, and wasted no time promoting the mind-altering weed across the country.
In Ontario, municipalities and townships were wooed with money to allow the selling of government-sanctioned marijuana within their jurisdictions. The province gave $44 million to 367 of 444 municipalities to address the implementation costs that directly related to the legalization of recreational cannabis. Permitted costs include: increased enforcement (e.g. police, public health and by-law enforcement, court administration, litigation) increased response to public inquiries (e.g. 311 calls, correspondence), increased paramedic services, increased fire services, by-law and policy development governing public health and workplace safety.
Townships that agreed to allow wicked weed shops were well paid. For example, the province in total paid the six townships in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry $143,000. The province gave another $110,000 to the United County of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. The Municipality of North Grenville received $29,000; North Dundas received $23,500.
One year ago, there were 1,000 cannabis stores operating in Ontario. That was boosted to about 1,500 as of May. If all pending applications with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario are accepted, there will be more than 1,900 weed shops. That’s shockingly, about 200 more than the 1,713 Time Horton’s restaurants operating in the province. But that might not happen as there are so many cannabis stores that dozens of stores are now for sale and some could close down.
Only 77 Ontario municipalities, concerned about the fallout in their communities, opted not to host pot shops. Of these municipalities, only 12 are east of Toronto. They are:
Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglan Township
Village of Casselman
Township of Beckwith
Township of East Hawkesbury
Township of Frontenac Islands
Township of Lanark Highlands
Marmora and Lake
Township of Oro-Medante
Township of Papineau-Cameron
Municipality of Powassan
Township of Tyendinaga
Whitby
West of Toronto are:
Waterloo Region: $822,000
Chatham-Kent: $364,600
Lambton County: $197,200
Essex County: $188,000
Grey County: $169,300
Oxford County: $141,000
Middlesex County: $109,500
Huron County: $95,400
Wellington County: $90,600
Elgin County: $74,450
Perth County: $56,900
A Hamilton study looked at how the legalization of cannabis impacted hospital emergency departments six months before and after legalization. The study found no change in overall visits but did find a 56% increase in emergency visits among adults aged 18-29.
Although the village of Chesterville, in North Dundas Township, doesn’t have a doctor or dentist office, residents now have their own local cannabis shop.
