By Pepper Parr
January 16th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
They first earned the right to determine what the city’s municipal government would do – they won the election.
On December 3rd, they assumed power.
And now they are exerting that power.
It is seldom a smooth or easy process.
Monday night city council listened to some people who had an amazing amount of information on just what the newest industry in Ontario is all about.
During the debate council members listened to delegations talk about what they knew about the rules and regulations that were either in place or going to be in place.
Council members, especially the Mayor listened closely to people who seemed to know what they were talking about.
They also listened to people who were not all that well informed and didn’t want to see cannabis sold at the retail level in Ontario.
In the end, meeting as a city council, the earlier part of the evening they were meeting as a Standing Committee, the voted 5-2 to permit cannabis to be sold at commercial outlets in the city.
Mayor Meed Ward, Councillors Galbraith, Kearns, Nisan, Sharman voted for the motion – Stolte and Bentivegna voted against.
The sale of cannabis will start just as soon as someone has a license to open a commercial establishment.
The renovated city council chamber – has much better digital production
What the public saw on the webcast of the meetings was the first meeting in the newly outfitted city council chamber. The city administration won’t get any prizes for the décor; a dull light grey colour scheme and better seats for the members of council.
Tim Commisso, the Interim City Manager.
The public also got their first peek at Tom Commisso, the Interim City Manager. He must have wondered about the upgrade to the chamber since he was there last – some xx years ago.
The biggest plus was the highly improved quality of the broadcast. For those who watch the proceedings on line (which is the best or all that some people can get) the production quality is very good.
Which is more than can be said of the performance of some of the candidates.
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte voted against the selling of cannabis in commercial establishments at this time – she wanted to know more about the implications. What disturbed many was that tmore than 65% of the people in ward 4 voted to have cannabis sold in commercial locations. Stolte seemed to be using her personal opinion as the guiding factor for her vote.
Is Stolte representing the people of ward 4 or is she representing Shawna Stolte who at this point in time lives in ward 2?
Angelo Bentivegna – kept asking the same question until he got the answer he wanted.
Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna seemed to have to ask many of the delegates the same question until he got the answer he seemed to want.
The provincial government had given municipalities in Ontario a one-time offer to opt out of having cannabis stores in their communities. The deadline for municipalities to make this decision is Jan. 22, 2019.
The vote to allow retail cannabis stores in Burlington means that bricks and mortar stores with an approved license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (ACGO), will be permitted to sell recreational cannabis in Burlington as early as April 1, 2019. Currently, the ACGO has made 25 retail licenses for cannabis stores in Ontario available. Six of these are in the Greater Toronto Area. It is not yet known if there will be an application for a cannabis store in Burlington.
Council also voted in favour of creating a citizen task force with terms of reference that include bylaw recommendations and the creation of guidelines for future retail cannabis stores.
Mayor Meed Ward insists that there be wide public engagement on every issue.
There was an online survey open from December 4th to December 13th 2018: 65.4% of the 1926 respondents voted in favour of cannabis stores in Burlington.
At a town hall meeting hosted by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward on Dec. 12, 2018, 82% of the 106 participants in attendance voted in support of cannabis retail stores.
In a second round of online engagement featuring the same survey from December 2018, an additional 784 people completed the survey, with 56.8% in favour of cannabis stores in Burlington.
Despite the on-line survey there were two groups that did surveys and had the forms in hand who did not take part in the on-line survey.
Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns runs the meetings she chairs smoothly. Her vice chair has yet to fully understand what he is supposed to be doing.
The issue is now settled – when will Burlington actually see a retail location? Many months from now.
Meed Ward, in a comment made after the meetings, said she “respected the two Councillors who voted against opting in, as they did what they believed was right for their constituents.
There is a lot more to tell on this story.
Dave, Why would the Ward 4 Newsletter be sent out prior to the City releasing the results of the online survey? I would like to know how many ward 4 residents represent the 73% that wanted to OPT OUT. I think the results of the online survey should have been factored into the decision.
John, the actual number was 67.64% of the people who answered the online survey for Ward 4 indicated they were in favour of allowing cannabis retail locations. The City emailed the results of the survey indicating the responses for each ward. The only ward that did not want retail locations was Ward 6. I commend Mr. Bentivegnia for voting the way he did. He followed the wishes of the residents he is representing in his ward.
The one thing that people fail to accept is that Cannabis is legal in Canada. I don’t see a citizen task force putting guidelines in place for selling beer and wine in grocery stores, so why is this happening for the sale of cannabis?
Personally, I feel, that when a councillor is elected to council it is their obligation not only to listen but also hear what the residents in their ward are saying and follow through on their promise to represent them.
I find this article very misleading, as at no point was there a statement that 65% of the residents of ward 4 were in favour of brick and mortar stores. The 65 % was the number from the city wide survey. I can state without hesitation, that the ward 4 council member spoke to many of her constituents at her Saturday morning coffee chats, well as responding to many emails and phone messages in regards to this issue.
To the editor: I am in Ward 4 and generally in favour of allowing retail locations. I was very interested in the reporting that “that more than 65% of the people in ward 4 voted to have cannabis sold in commercial locations.” I was interested to confirm where this number came from? Was this from the online survey?
In the end, I believe this raises and interesting question. In general, we do expect that our Councillor will represent the interests of their Constituents. However, and I am asking this as a debate not because I necessarily think one way or another, “Should we expect our Councilor to only represent the majority regardless of their personal opinion? Or is it acceptable for them to vote according to their personal position regardless?
I don’t recall seeing anything specific in the campaign about Ms. Stolte’s position on cannabis sales which certainly doesn’t mean it wasn’t brought up. I would be interested to know if the question was posed and what Ms. Stolte had a position during the campaign?
While I don’t speak for Councillor Stolte, I know that she has expressed a few times that her own feedback received from constituents paints a different picture than the majority of Ward 4 residents favouring an opt-in decision.
In her January newsletter, she indicates that she has received feedback from Ward 4 residents indicating a 73% desire to opt-out. It appears this isn’t a case of a Councillor making decisions based on her own opinion, but rather a decision based on differing information she has received from residents. Read her “My Take” article on the subject here: https://stolte4ward4.ca/news-and-updates/f/cannabis-retail-stores-opt-in-or-opt-out