Public pot smoking expected to go up in smoke in Markham Tuesday

Special council meeting called to vote on restricting marijuana consumption to private residences

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 16, 2018
Tim Kelly

Markham council is wasting no time taking up the province’s offer to restrict cannabis smoking to private property.

City council, just a day before marijuana becomes legal for those 19 and over, will hold a special council meeting Tuesday at 10 a.m. for “consideration of the passage of a bylaw to restrict consumption of cannabis to private residences.”

It’s the only topic up for discussion.

The meeting comes exactly one week after Attorney General Caroline Mulroney told the Toronto Empire Club, “our approach allows local municipalities to enact bylaws that further restricts smoking of cannabis beyond provincial minimum standards.”

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Mulroney added that the province wanted to “allow each of Ontario’s 444 municipalities to shape consumption rules that work for them.”

Earlier this year, the province said it would allow cannabis smoking wherever cigarette smoking was legally allowed.

That decision was a departure from the previous Liberal government, which wanted to restrict marijuana consumption to private property.

It seems Markham’s politicians were happier with the Liberal plan and want to return to it.

“How are we going to enforce it? If somebody is smoking on my street, how are we going to enforce it,” said Ward 4 Coun. Karen Rea, who supports restricting pot smoking to private property.

Ward 6 Coun. Amanda Collucci, said she has concerns about enforcement and who will end up paying for it.

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“Who is going to pick up the additional costs for enforcement?” Collucci said.

She worries about needing more bylaw officers, “an additional 10, an additional one, who knows?”

She said that, generally speaking, she supports restricting cannabis smoking to private property.

“Do residents want it to be restricted? Absolutely. So many residents have told me they want cannabis consumption restricted. They don’t want children to see it,” Collucci said.

When asked whether they wanted to allow sales in a storefront in Markham, city council voted 12-1 against the idea. There is little appetite among local politicians for a retail store in Markham, but a decision on that issue is expected by Jan. 22.