Townships say they're still 'in the dark' about private pot plan

Townships in Waterloo region are saying they haven't received information from the province on private pot sales and are still waiting for directions from the provincial government before deciding whether to opt-in or not. 

"The rules seem to change every other month and everything very much seems to be in the air."  

Foxton said she thinks North Dumfries shouldn't have a store, but that's just her "personal opinion." 

"That's not my council's opinion," Foxton said. "Council will have to discuss it and see what they're going to do." 

"Basically, I think the draw is in the larger cities and I don't think it would need to be here. I think we have less policing and less controls than the larger areas and therefore it would be more cumbersome here," she added. 

I think we have less policing and less controls than the larger areas and therefore it would be more cumbersome here.- Mayor Sue Foxton, North Dumfries township

Foxton said she would like to see a "more clear cut plan" from the province. 

"I'm not sure I like the private ownership and the stores being wherever, because we don't know when they're going to pop up or where, or how it's going to be regulated or monitored," Foxton said. 

Wilmot Mayor Les Armstrong said he's "doubtful about privatization," but also said it will be up to his council to decide. So far, "they haven't had that discussion yet." 

"We're as much in the dark as the general public as far as that goes," he said.  

"What we're going through is a typical government program that say they're going to do something and then they figure it out afterwards." 

Townships want a say

If the decision to opt in or out does fall to the townships, Armstrong said Wilmot would want to "limit the number of stores that come in."  

"If we're not given any options on that, maybe they'll just say, 'Well, we wanna opt out.' Because, if we don't have any controls, maybe we just don't want it here," Armstrong said. 

"Before we can even have that discussion, we would need to know what the implications are and we don't know that at this point," she said.  

"You can see the pros and cons. We have to talk it out to see people's minds here," she said. "It's a fairly new concept and we just haven't had those discussions.".  

CBC News also sent an interview request to Wellesley township, Centre Wellington township and the City of Guelph, but they did not respond.