Residents of Centre Wellington will continue to wait if they want to purchase cannabis within the township. Council decided not to opt in to cannabis retail stores locally, but they didn't opt out either at a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night.

Following the legalization of cannabis in 2018, the council at that time opted out of dispensaries in Centre Wellington. Current council had their first chance to act differently at the meeting in which they decided to seek more input from the Economic Development and Prosperity Committee before making the decision.

The meeting came on the heels of a Centre Wellington survey in which almost 75 per cent of 913 polled residents said they support cannabis stores in Centre Wellington.

Mayor Shawn Watters says he hopes to gather additional information before deciding one way or the other.

"One of the advantages of this council is we've seen how this has performed in other communities. So, once we make a commitment it's a done deal," Watters said.

"I think there's a degree of hesitancy based on getting more facts," he added.

Input from both the Fergus and Elora business improvement associations is an important aspect of the additional consultation the township is seeking, Watters said, adding he hasn't heard a lot of stress in the community about a lack of availability.

"It's not that people can't get access to cannabis. Just to the north of us, to the south of us you can get cannabis. You can order online," Watters pointed out.

"It's not something that is not accessible. It's highly accessible. It's available if you want it," Watters stated.

In February, Diane Ballantyne and cannabis advocate John Mifsud both made delegations.

Mifsud is a cannabis advocate and hopeful retail shop owner. He and Ballantyne originally brought the issue to council and were present at Tuesday's committee of the whole.

Mifsud pointed out he put out a survey of his own while the township survey was circulating.

"I want to open a cannabis store. I've been working on it a while and I've just been working on talking to and engaging members of the community- gauging the attitude and seeing what everyone wants to do," Mifsud explained.

"We put out our own unofficial survey. We got a tremendous response and the township survey came back with an even greater response than their 2018 survey," he added.

Council will return to discussions on the matter after receiving the economic development report.

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