Get ready for a new hot button municipal election issue.

It turns out one of the first decisions the new Hamilton council elected in October will need to make is whether or not to opt out of the Ontario government’s plan to sell marijuana through local stores.

That’s the message city licensing director Ken Leendertse recently received from a spokesperson for Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli.

Leendertse and other city officials met last week with Fedeli’s parliamentary assistant to hear an overview on the upcoming legalization of cannabis and the province’s plans for privately-operated retail outlets.

They were told municipalities will have a one-time window to vote against allowing cannabis stores in their communities. But the new council will need to make a decision quickly because the Ford government plans to launch its retail model for cannabis sales on April 1, 2019.

“What they’ve told us is it will be one of the first things the new council will have to review,” said Leendertse.

If councillors choose to opt out of hosting retail pot stores, they can opt back in at a later date.

Read more:

Opinion | Sure, pot is soon to be legal — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t harmful

Cannabis producer expands into Hamilton sports complex, leaving soccer players on the sidelines

How one small Ontario town became the cannabis capital of Canada

If, however, council votes to allow the stores to open, there’s no turning back, no giving the stores the boot down the road. Leenderste says that’s because the Ford government doesn’t want to leave retailers who’ve acquired provincial pot licences “high and dry” after they’ve sunk money into the operations.

Recreational marijuana becomes legal on Oct. 17 — five days before the Oct. 22 municipal election. But until the retail stores open in the spring of 2019, the only legal option for purchasing pot will be online through the government’s Ontario Cannabis Store.

The fact that municipalities have an opportunity to reject retail outlets is more than a potential municipal election issue, it’s already happening.

The mayors of Oakville, Richmond Hill and Markham have indicated they support opting out. And at least one Hamilton area citizens’ group is asking where local councillors line up.

Where does Hamilton’s Mayor Fred Eisenberger stand? In a supremely awkward place.

In late 2017, Eisenberger declared a conflict of interest on cannabis issues because he’s an investor in a local federally-licensed medical marijuana grow-op.

Under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, members of council must disclose direct or indirect financial interests in matters under discussion and are banned from debating, voting or attempting to influence a vote on the subject.

Consequently, Eisenberger has removed himself from council cannabis discussions. He intends to check with the city clerk to see if the same restrictions apply to him as a candidate seeking re-election. He suspects they do.

Eisenberger says he hasn’t considered divesting himself of the stock in order to end his conflict, largely because he’s “locked in” by an agreement which prevents him from selling for a set period of time.

He argues his silence likely won’t have much impact. “I don’t know that my inability to vote on this is going to sway the issue one way or another. I think it has its own momentum and that council at large is quite capable of dealing with it.”

Still, it means Eisenberger was unable to respond to an emailed citizens’ survey asking current members of council if they’ll commit to rejecting marijuana outlets if re-elected.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The question came from the Hamilton-Wentworth Family Action Council, a longtime traditional family values group which claims hundreds of members. Its president, Jim Enos, a former candidate for the Christian Heritage Party, declines to reveal the results of the survey but notes they were shared with the group’s members.

“We’re really concerned about the damage (marijuana) does to brains. That’s our bottom line,” said Enos.

While pot users extol the relaxing and blissful effects of marijuana, health experts warn of its negative impact on thinking, co-ordination, memory and the risk of addiction — a tension tailor-made for the hurly-burly of an election campaign.