Saskatoon shop owner wants city to reveal pot licensing fee calculations

The City of Saskatoon has a $20,000 licensing fee for anyone who wants to open a cannabis store in town.

If you want to renew that same licence, you're looking at a $10,000 fee.

Daniel Kwochka, owner of local pot shop Cannabis YXE, says he wants to know how the city calculated those numbers.

"The average business licence in the city of Saskatoon costs $125, [with a] $85 renewal fee. So I have some questions about the calculation of that licensing fee," Kwochka said.

Kwochka just celebrated a soft opening and plans to open officially soon.

'I want to see a breakdown of the costs'

Kwochka stressed that his dealings with the city have gone well. He had "nothing but good things to say" of city administration.

He did, however, take issue with one provision in the Cities Act.

"It limits the city to charging on the costs it actually incurred in the course of of regulating the activity that the licence is designed to deal with," Kwochka said.

He said he recognizes that Saskatoon had to adjust in a relatively short period of time, but he still wants to know the breakdown of that $20,000 fee.

That sum is much higher than the $500 for a liquor licence for a restaurant, bar or store in a Saskatchewan city.

Kwochka said the fees haven't affected his opening, but that he had no idea when he applied for a cannabis dispensary licence that it might be so expensive to open a store.

"I want to see what [the calculations] are. I want to review them," said Kwochka, who is a lawyer in addition to running the store.

He worries that the high fees for cannabis stores only add to the stigma surrounding cannabis use.

"It perpetuates the stereotype that a cannabis store is going to be problematic."