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Icy winter in Vancouver
Pick up a pass, any pass

Vancouver cannabis industry booming

despite pushback

And more!

Vancouver cannabis industry
booming despite pushback

> City continues to fine dispensaries leading up to legalization

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor

 

his April, the federal government

will begin compiling a bill that will
lead to the legalization of marijuana
in Canada. Yet despite impending
legalization, major Canadian cities have
continued to discourage dispensaries
from staying open. In Toronto and
Montreal, police raids have been used in
attempts to curb the growing number of
dispensaries in their respective cities.

The Vancouver approach is much
different. Rather than resort to using
police officers, Vancouver is attempting
to control the dispensaries with fines,
and have been doing so since June 24,
2016. It was then that Vancouver set out
new bylaws surrounding the operations
of dispensaries in the city, with some
of the biggest requirements making
dispensaries be located 300 metres
away from a school, community centre,
or centre that serves vulnerable youth;
and pay a $30,000 business licensing
fee, with the exception of compassion
clubs, who only pay a $1,000 fee.
Under the June 2016 bylaws, most

dispensaries in the city should have

 

closed. They were allowed to appeal
their prescribed closure in August

2016, but the municipal government
refused 140 out of the 176 business
applications they received from
dispensaries. Under these circumstances,
the unapproved dispensaries would

Image by Analyn Cuarto

have six months to cease operations.
However, a majority of the businesses

opted to remain open and to instead

either pay the heavy fines given to

them by the city, or fight them. The

city has distributed 1,001 tickets to the

dispensaries that violate the bylaws,

Pick up a pass, any pass

> Canada’s milestone anniversary grants free access to national parks

Aaron Guillen
Staff Reporter

 

Bu Columbia isn’t marketed as
“super natural” for nothing—the
beauty of its national parks speak for
themselves. In order to commemorate
Canada’s 150th year since Confederation,
all national parks, historic sites, and
marine conservation areas will be available
to the public for free in 2017. By simply
ordering a Discovery Pass, Canadians
across the nation will be granted access to
nearly 40 national parks, with 7 located in
BC alone.

Last month, news of the free
passes resulted in the crashing of the
Parks Canada website after hundreds
of thousands of visitors visited the site.
According to Parks Canada, over 900,000
Canadians have signed up to receive the
pass. As demand has proven abundant,
park officials have politely given the
nod to allowing visitors access without
Discovery passes, although they find it
significantly more helpful if people sign
up, simply to keep track of the numbers
on their end.

 

“If they don’t come and they
don’t stop either at a gate or a visitor
centre or campground, we get very few
opportunities to interact with them. So
to be able to provide safety information,
wildlife information, we're really
encouraging people to drive through the
gate and get a pass,” said Parks Canada
representative Greg Danchuk to Global
News.

Image via www.banfflakelouise.com

“We want people to keep in the habit
of getting a pass, so when they come back
next year or years in the future, they know
that they need to have a pass to get into
the national park.”

As the word of free access continues
to travel across the nation, well-known
national parks, such as Banff, are expected
to see upwards of half a million more
visitors this year. Banff Mayor Karen

with a quarter of them being paid.

“Td be happy to spend more money
fighting those fines than just paying them,
just kind of on principle,” Dana Larsen,
who owns a number of dispensaries in
Vancouver, said to CBC. “Because this
city is full of schools and community
centres. It really limits how many
dispensaries can be in the city.”

Meanwhile, the city has
remained resilient against the
dispensaries, and increased its $250
fine to $1,000 in December 2016.

“Right now, less than a quarter of
those fines are actually being paid. And
now we're spending staff time—and time
is money—having our staff go through
[the] process of putting those outstanding
tickets in collections,” councillor Melissa
De Genova, who believes that the city
should be enforcing stronger rules
on the dispensaries, said to CBC.

It remains questionable
whether or not the city will take
more drastic measures, such as
emulating Toronto and Montreal's
police raids, given the probability of
federal legalization within the next
six months. However, it is clear that
unapproved dispensaries will continue
to operate against the city’s wishes.

Sorensen told CTV News about her hopes
of free and frequent shuttles between the
city’s downtown core and the park being
implemented come the peak summer
season.

While visitor numbers are expected
to grow, park officials are concerned that
wildlife numbers will do the opposite.
Wildlife Expert Ben Gadd pointed out to
CTV News that “With extra people and
extra cars on the highway, more animals
[will be] getting squashed.”

While the message of appreciation
for the outdoors and nature are at the
top of the park officials’ list, many hope
the influx in visitors won't ruin a perfect
destination.

“When we poll people who visit our
national parks, most people say that they
go to the parks to experience wilderness
and wildlife,” said Alison Ronson, director
of northern Alberta’s Canadian Park and
Wilderness Society (CPAWS) to CBC.

“T think we should take a cue from
that and make sure that we are doing our
best to protect the wilderness and protect
the wildlife, so that people can continue
to enjoy them, and future generations can
continue to enjoy that as well”