Steinbach, Winkler and 4 other communities vote against sale of legal cannabis

Two southern Manitoba cities with a history of alcohol prohibition have decided to say no to cannabis. 

An overwhelming 69 per cent of Steinbach voters and 70 per cent of Winkler voters opted Wednesday to outlaw the sale of recreational cannabis, which became legal nationwide last week.

Of eight Manitoba municipalities that held votes Wednesday on allowing cannabis sales, only the towns of Lac du Bonnet and Snow Lake voted in favour.

In Steinbach, the province's third-largest city, 3,696 people decided against permitting licensed cannabis shops, while 1,703 people said otherwise.

Winkler counted 2,112 opponents to cannabis retailers in their city and 923 people voted in favour.

The margin was wider in the city of 12,500 people, about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, than Mayor Martin Harder expected.

Convincing vote

"I was looking at the voter turnout and the number of people that were coming in and you kind of look at the older ones, the younger ones, the people that you don't know," he said. "I thought, 'Well, it could be close,' and these things surprise."

Harder thought his city was bound for a tight vote, considering a high turnout from younger voters, but that wasn't the case.

He shrugs his shoulders at the outcome.

"We are still going to be … a community that grows and we're open for business and we will just do what we do," Harder said.

Steinbach and Winkler were among the last holdouts in Manitoba to loosen their liquor laws, outside some First Nations. Steinbach voted to allow bars and cocktail lounges in 2011, while Winkler accomplished the same in 2003.

The towns of Snow Lake and Lac du Bonnet will roll out the welcome mat for interested retailers, after 59 per cent and 63 per cent of voters, respectively, said they supported legal cannabis sales.

Kim Stephen, mayor of Snow Lake, previously told CBC News she questioned whether a retailer would even bother to put up stakes in her northern Manitoba town, since they have fewer than 1,000 residents.

Elsewhere, 78 per cent of voters in the RM of Stanley, which surrounds the city of Winkler, as well as 63 per cent of voters in Stuartburn, 56 per cent in Wallace-Woodworth and 55 per cent in Riding Mountain West said no to pot shops. 

LGCA won't issue licences in communities that voted 'no'

The provincial government gave municipalities the option of conducting a plebiscite to ask residents whether they wanted to ban pot shops from their communities.

Although municipalities can restrict the location of retail stores through zoning and bylaw processes, the only mechanism to prohibit the sale of legal pot everywhere is through a plebiscite. 

The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba will not issue store licences in the communities that voted no. 

The province wants 90 per cent of Manitobans to have access to legal cannabis within a 30-minute drive or less within two years of legalization. 

• Full coverage of the municipal election