One of Collingwood’s three neighbouring municipalities has opted-in to allow cannabis retail stores, but the other two have opted out.
The Blue Mountains council voted on Jan. 16 unanimously to opt-in, allowing cannabis retail stores to operate within the Town of The Blue Mountains.
Collingwood also voted to opt-in earlier this week.
However, both Wasaga Beach and Clearview Townships have opted-out of allowing retail cannabis stores.
The two municipalities will have the option of opting-in anytime in the future. Collingwood and The Blue Mountains will not be able to opt out.
The first round of licences to operate a retail cannabis store in Ontario have been given out by the province, with four licences going to the east region (which includes Collingwood) but it’s still not clear where those stores will be located. The province is requiring the licences be used for stores in cities with a population of 50,000 or greater. Neither Collingwood, nor Blue Mountains can expect to see a store in this first round of licensing.
The province has not yet announced when the next round of licensing will occur.