Windsor to keep track of cannabis-related costs for provincial money

The City of Windsor is keeping track of the money it spends on costs arising from the legalization of cannabis. That's in order to take advantage of Ontario Cannabis Legalization Implementation Fund (OCLIF) money.

The province is requiring municipalities to keep track of the specific costs, because the money can only be used on issues that arise from legalized cannabis.

"Any type of costs related to increased enforcement, whether it be in police, in bylaw enforcement and court administration or litigation type things, if we've had an increase in public inquiries through 311," said city treasurer Joe Mancina.

Mancina said specific account structures within the system have been set up across all departments to track the costs related to cannabis.

"And there will be some reporting back [to the province] in terms of the uses of those funds," said Mancina.

Windsor has already received $253,279, the first of two payments from the $40 million provincial fund. That first payment is Windsor's share of $15 million handed out to all municipalities based on a per household basis -- with a minimum of  $5,000.

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The province is paying out an additional $15 million to municipalities that decided to welcome private marijuana retail before the Jan. 22 opt-out deadline.  

Windsor will once again receive funding on a per household basis, but it's not clear how much that will be. Municipalities that have opted out will only receive $5,000 each.

Store vs no store

LaSalle town council voted to opt out of having cannabis retail stores earlier this month.

Coun. Jeff Renaud voted to opt out. He said everyone knew what they were getting into and he wouldn't change his vote today.

"There seemed to be too many moving pieces to the equation. There weren't a lot of solid answers, and there's a lot of uncertainty as to what the next stage is going to look like," he said.

But Sam Katzman, president of Greentown Cannabis Stores in Alberta, believes once storefronts open in Ontario, they will help mitigate the issues, such as impaired driving.

He said his staff advise the customers in Alberta of the laws surrounding cannabis use.

"What you'll have is a much more educated consumer, and a consumer that ask questions and with the store comes letting people know that when you buy this, you can't use it when you drive. Don't even open it when you drive, " said Katzman who is from Windsor.

Katzman has one store in Red Deer and two which will open in the future in Calgary. He said his Red Deer store has caused no problems whatsoever for the community.

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The Ontario government is also making $10 million available to municipalities to address costs from unforeseen circumstances, but priority will be given to cities that did not opt out.

Katzman believes cities that have cannabis retail stores will have fewer costs associated with legalized cannabis than the municipalities that don't have the stores.

"A lot of new cannabis users have come into the store educating themselves, and I have not seen a single problem in Alberta and so I don't see how it would translate into a problem in Windsor," he said.

If the federal government collects more than $100 million in excise taxes off cannabis sales, the province and municipalities will split the excess revenues. Windsor will also be eligible for some of that money, if it has a store at that time.

Katzman hopes to one day have a licence to operate a store in Windsor.