A joint provincial-local government committee has been created to tackle cannabis legalization policies and regulation in British Columbia featuring a Prince George and a Vanderhoof representative.
Ian Wells, general manager of planning and development for the City of Prince George, and Brian Frenkel, District of Vanderhoof councillor, are on the 12-person committee.
“They are going to be on the front-lines of cannabis legalization, on the issues that are of particular concern to local government that we need to work with them on,” explains Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth.
“This is to ensure when legalization takes place in July 2018, we are as ready as we can be.”
Farnworth originally made the announcement of the Joint Provincial-Local Government Committee on Cannabis Regulation (JCCR) at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in September.
The committee will provide communication and consultation so the Province considers local government input during the development of the regulatory framework for legalized non-medical cannabis.
Here is the full list of committee members:
- Wendy Booth, director, Regional District of East Kootenay
- Kerry Hang, councillor, City of Vancouver
- Maya Tait, mayor, District of Sooke
- Brian Frenkel, councillor, District of Vanderhoof
- Chris Coates, clerk, City of Victoria
- Kevin Cormack, chief administrative officer, City of Nelson
- Kathryn Holm, chief licence inspector, City of Vancouver
- Dave Jones, business licence inspector, City of Kamloops
- Peter Monteith, chief administrative officer, City of Chilliwack
- Terry Waterhouse, director of public safety, City of Surrey
- Ian Wells, general management, planning and development, City of Prince George
- and Gary MacIsaac, executive director, Union of B.C. Municipalities
“I think they will be meeting on a regular basis, as often as required to deal with the issues they are identifying,” Farnworth explains.
“They were very pleased with the opportunity to participate in this process and we are really happy it’s taking place as well.”
There is a website up that allows the public to give their take on cannabis legalization.
30,000 British Columbians have already given their say, the website will close on November 1st.
“That number shows the considerable level of public interest in the province on this top, we’re very pleased with the response,” says Farnworth.
“That’s just the number of people who made a submission. The actual number of people who visited the site is significantly higher.”
The website is available here.
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