Council for the Town of Ste. Anne is looking for response from their community about whether cannabis should be available for retail in their community or not.

The province gave municipalities a deadline of December 22nd to make a decision on whether they choose to allow cannabis to be sold in their municipality or to opt out altogether. Meanwhile, Mayor Richard Pelletier says that's just not enough time to make this kind of decision. He notes they put out a survey online for their residents to voice their opinions so council can get a feel for what their community would like to see in terms of if cannabis retail will be allowed in Ste. Anne.   

"There’s no doubt, we want to make the decision that people want for our town so that’s why we just went for a survey. We don’t have much information and so on but we really value the opinion of people."

Pelletier says town council is echoing what many other municipalities are saying; there's just not enough information established yet in terms of laws for when cannabis is set to be legalized. He adds this isn't just an issue that can be finalized overnight but notes they'll find out how the government will manage it before making a final decision. 

"They gave us a short deadline and we thought they’re not ready and they give us a deadline. We didn’t meet the deadline because like again, not enough information to make a wise decision, it’s too bad but I mean they’ll just have to postpone for later on because we really need to make a wise decision and time is crucial in this matter."

Village of St. Pierre Mayor Mona Fallis expresses similar thoughts. "I think it's the community more that's going to say whether it should be established here in St. Pierre-Jolys or not, rather than council."

Meanwhile, Reeve Art Bergmann for the RM of Ste. Anne says although they haven't formally replied to the province yet, they are not opposed noting the odds aren't high a shop will be set up in their municipality anyway.