City councillors are unanimous in their support of allowing legal cannabis retail stores in Brantford.

“It’s time we opted in,” said Mayor Kevin Davis at a community development committee meeting on Tuesday.

Davis has been working with the province over the past year to help municipalities get more control over where stores can be located and to get a bigger cut of excise taxes collected on the sale of pot. He said people who want to open stores need time to make plans now that the Ontario government has opened up the system.

Council voted a year ago to temporarily opt out of permitting cannabis stores to operate in the municipality. There were concerns about the city’s control over the distance between retail outlets and their proximity to schools, daycares, colleges and universities, community centres, nursing homes and other “sensitive land uses.”

At a meeting in June, council endorsed a resolution of the Large Urban Mayors’ Caucus of Ontario calling for additional regulatory controls. Davis was chair of a caucus subcommittee that created the resolution endorsed by more than 50 municipalities.

The mayor has met several times with Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey to advocate for changes. Though the province has made no commitment to the changes, Davis said he will continue negotiations and is hopeful some of the municipal controls will be put in place. Several councillors lauded the mayor on Tuesday for taking a leadership role in the process.

The Ontario government announced last month it is set to open the province’s cannabis market and remove a cap on the number of private retail store locations, abandoning the current lottery system.

At the time, Downey said the changes will give consumer more choice and convenience and a “safe, reliable supply of cannabis.”

Other changes include eliminating the pre-qualification requirements for prospective retailers and allowing licensed producers to open a store at one of their facilities. Cannabis retail licence holders will have no limit on the number of stores they can open, starting in August. Right now, licensed retailers are capped at a maximum of 10 retail operations. Stores will also be able to allow customers to order their products online with in-store pickup.

Davis said lifting the city’s prohibition on cannabis stores now gives people time to secure locations and apply for operator licences through the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Store authorizations from the open application process are expected to be issued beginning in April, at an initial rate of about 20 per month.

“I’m happy residents won’t have to travel out of town to purchase legal products,” said Coun. Rick Weaver.

He said more illegal operations moved into the city when, in October 2018, it became legal to buy, use and possess recreational marijuana in Canada. Each province has its own rules pertaining to buying and using cannabis.

Davis said it’s difficult to control the local black market when there isn’t a legal alternative.

Coun. Joshua Wall, who strongly opposed council’s decision a year ago to “opt out” of allowing pot stores, said there has since been a lot of NIMBY (not in my backyard) reaction from the public.

Coun. Brian VanTilborg said, in hindsight, the delay gave the city time to reflect after the province’s lottery-system roll out of retail licences was “somewhat of a failure.”

“We now have the right mindset to go forward with what we want to see for our community.”

The provincial government previously said it hoped to open up the market to as many as a thousand stores, but had to slow plans in light of a cannabis supply shortage.

The government used the lottery system twice to issue the province’s first 75 retail licences, but has since faced criticism for sticking with the system too long. Critics also said the province’s slow approach has left legal sellers unable to keep pace with the black market.

“They bungled it so bad with this whole lottery system,” said Coun. Richard Carpenter. “This provincial government didn’t know what the heck it was doing.”

Carpenter said he’s appreciative of Davis lobbying for more local control over cannabis stores but “I don’t hold out a lot of hope this government is listening.”

“I think we’re going to see liquor and beer and cannabis in every corner store,” he said.

The issue requires final approval at a city council meeting on Jan. 28.