3 win lottery to apply for a cannabis store licence steps away from each other in Ontario town - Global News

An Ontario town has hit the weed jackpot with three people, steps away from each other on the same street, winning the province’s lottery to apply for a cannabis store licence.Innisfil, Ont. could soon see three pot shops open up on Commerce Park Drive, something critics say is “odd” and “doesn’t make sense.”Story continues below“It wouldn’t be in the regulator’s interest to have three stores located that closely together,” Trina Fraser, an Ottawa-based cannabis lawyer with Brazeau Seller Law, told Global News.“This is not even ‘we’re within a couple blocks of each other,’ like it’s crazy. They just can’t let that happen.”READ MORE: Weed store proposed for same location Ontario premier denounced as ‘ridiculous’The proposed store locations in Innisfil are at 1982, 1988 and 2008 Commerce Park Drive.“It happened by virtue of an intentionally random draw,” Fraser said. “Of course, the risk is that you’re going to end up with unintended clustering.”Currently, Dewildt Marine and Powersports is located at both 1982 and 1988 Commerce Park Dr. The owner of the business, Ken DeWildt, rents both of the properties and told Global News in an email that his company isn’t connected to the cannabis store licence applications.“We are not affiliated in any way with the store nor are we aware of any intended repurposing of any of the properties listed,” DeWildt said in an email. “We currently have leases in place and will continue to operate our Marine and Powersports businesses from these locations.”READ MORE: 42 Ontario pot store licences awarded in 2nd lottery, 13 stores to be in TorontoInnisfil deputy mayor Daniel Davidson told Global News on Wednesday that having three locations so close together is odd and that he hopes there only ends up being one cannabis store in the area.“It’s interesting because Commerce Park Drive is an industrial, commercial area in the municipality, so I’m happy with that, that they’re not downtown,” he said.“I question as to why all the locations. Is it one person going under three names to open one large facility?”Fraser said she can’t imagine all three proprietors will want to stay in the same area together.“Will [the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario] tell these people where they need to go to try to fill gaps in the region or will they give them the discretion to basically put it wherever else they want?” she said. “If all three of them say, ‘I don’t want to move,’ then what do you do?”WATCH: Local Kingston business loses out a second time in the cannabis retail store lottery

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August 22, 2019 at 06:48AM