It was quite the awkward start for Port McNeill’s Cannabis Comittee.
The committee got together for the very first time on Monday, Aug. 13, and there were a few hiccups that occurred during the meeting that slowed down some much needed discussion on the issues surrounding retail shops inside the town’s jurisdiction.
Coun. Shelley Downey, the town’s representative on the committee, was around 20 minutes late for the meeting due to an error on the original agenda listing the start time at 7 p.m. instead of the actual time of 6 p.m., which lead to Deputy Administrator Pete Nelson-Smith chairing a portion of the meeting and introductions from the committee members having to be done twice, eating up valuable discussion time (the meetings are scheduled for one hour, every Tuesday night at the town office).
Port McNeill RCMP and VIHA also never returned requests for representatives to come and sit on the committee.
“Did you actually directly approach Island Health and the RCMP?” asked committee member David Mitchell.
Nelson-Smith stated he definitely did, adding, “I contacted them in a couple of different avenues and didn’t receive a response.”
After that, committee member Sandra MacDonald asked if anyone at the table was completely against retail shops being allowed inside the town.
“I don’t think anybody’s against it,” replied Nelson-Smith. “I think this is why we have the committee, to help us move forward — this is something new to the community, something we’ve never had before.”
“I think it’s a fair question — are any of us opposed to retail in general in Port McNeill or are we here to figure out the rules?” asked committee member Derek Koel.
Ryan Mitchell, another committee member, stated the committee’s role should be to make sure cannabis enters the town’s marketplace in a way that is acceptable, because it’s already been agreed to by the federal government that it will be legal.
The committee then moved on to discussing and filing government documents regarding legalization and re-introducing themselves to Downey, before briefly touching on issues like zoning areas, how many shops should be allowed to operate, cultivation (grow ops), and why the committee won’t be discussing the town’s smoking in public bylaw (it’s a council matter).
“We’ve got X number of weeks that we’re going to meet, so I’m just wondering how you see our strategy moving from this, we’ve used up an hour now,” stated David Mitchell, who asked if they would be able to focus the meetings more so they can have specific topics come up each week, such as zoning information and provincial and federal acts. “I’m worried we could just be all over the map and I need to see a plan,” he added.
“Today will be our only ad hoc meeting,” replied Downey.
As the meeting wound down, Downey seemed to be unaware that the agenda called for a question and answer period with the public and media. Despite this issue, the Q&A did in fact end up happening.
The Gazette asked the committee three questions:
1. Would the RCMP and/or VIHA ever stop by for a meeting?
Nelson-Smith confirmed they would if the committee invited them.
2. Should he choose to, would Koel (who is a freelancer for the North Island Gazette) be allowed to write “Port McNeill in Focus” columns on future meetings?
The committee members themselves raised no objections to Koel writing about the meetings for The Gazette, however, Downey disagreed with that, stating she would not want Koel to do so. Koel also noted that he currently had no plans to write columns about cannabis committee meetings.
3. Would Community Futures Mount Waddington (a company that provides business loans, training, and advisory services for small businesses in the Mount Waddington Region) be interested in helping someone start a cannabis retail shop in the Town of Port McNeill?
David Mitchell (who is the General Manager of Community Futures) stated if somebody wanted Community Futures’ help in starting a retail shop it would not be a problem, they would just have to apply like anybody else. He also cautioned residents would have to wait until after cannabis officially becomes legal on Oct. 17.
Keep following the North Island Gazette for more in-depth coverage of Port McNeill Cannabis Committee meetings in the future.
