Residents of Steinbach will not vote on whether they want cannabis retailers in their city. City administration made the decision after invalidating over 3,000 of the 4,000 petition signatures gathered in support of holding a plebiscite during the municipal election this October.
Cannabis distributor Toba Grown, retailer Flamingo Plus and volunteers canvassed Steinbach and Winkler this summer. They needed signatures from 20 per cent of registered voters to force a plebiscite under provincial law.
Steinbach city manager Troy Warkentin was asked how many signatures were rejected and why. His emailed response to CBC only said the 20 per cent threshold is equivalent to 2,680 electors, and a review found the petition didn’t meet the necessary requirements.
Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk and council were asked to comment but didn’t respond. “Given that the petition is not a council matter, Mayor Funk and other members of council would not be available to participate in this story,” city hall communications said in an email.
Steinbach and Winkler voters chose to disallow the sale of cannabis when it was federally legalized in 2018.
Toba Grown president Jesse Lavoie said he will pursue legal action against the City of Steinbach. “The thousands of people that signed this, they should feel disrespected, and city council, on this specific topic, should be ashamed of themselves,” Lavoie said.
Lavoie said he was told most signatures were rejected because many people did not wish to write their full street address, writing only postal codes and that they lived in Steinbach.
He said people were concerned about privacy and fraud, especially after news came out that the local animal shelter and Mayor Funk himself were victims of fraud.
“We were asking for over a year to go into the city council chambers and make a presentation, have a conversation,” Lavoie said. He said that would have made people less suspicious of being defrauded.
Lavoie said Steinbach council’s opposition to the petition effort was evident early in the process.
Winkler city administration approved its petition, ruling only 280 of its 2,200 signatures did not qualify.
“In Winkler, we were able to make three different presentations before the petition even started.… The communication has been great,” Lavoie said.
“With Steinbach, it was like we were infected and we weren’t allowed in the building,” Lavoie said.
Under provincial law, the next opportunity to hold a plebiscite on allowing retail cannabis stores in Steinbach would be during the next municipal election, in 2030.
Lavoie said he hopes by then the law can be updated to allow digital address confirmation.
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