15 more municipalities selected for LCBO-run cannabis stores
The province says none of the locations will be near schools
Fifteen more Ontario municipalities have been identified as hosts for standalone cannabis retail stores.
The list shared by the LCBO's Cannabis Updates webpage Tuesday more than doubles the 14 included in the first wave of locations, which were announced in November.
Recreational marijuana use is set to be legalized across Canada by July 1, 2018.
The province plans to open 80 shops by July of the following year, increasing that to about 150 locations by 2020.
Here's a list of the new additions:
- Ajax
- Belleville
- Brantford
- Burlington
- Cambridge
- Chatham-Kent
- Guelph
- Lindsay (Kawartha Lakes)
- Niagara Falls
- Oakville
- Oshawa
- Peterborough
- St. Catharines
- Waterloo
- Whitby
Residents living in the above municipalities are invited to provide feedback once a site for the shop in their community is identified. A public notice will be posted online and at the store's physical location if possible.
The province says none of the locations will be near schools.
The additional locations were announced on the same day legislation giving Ontario's government a monopoly on recreational pot sales in the province passed at Queen's Park.
The Cannabis Act creates a provincial agency to distribute and retail pot through storefronts and online. It also establishes stiff fines for companies or people who sell marijuana in defiance of the government monopoly.
The bill gives municipalities the power to close illegal pot shops as soon as their owners are charged, even if they have not been convicted.
It also sets the minimum age to buy pot in Ontario at 19 and bans cannabis use in public places, vehicles and workplaces.
with files from Mike Crawley and the Canadian Press