{"id":23253,"date":"2019-03-15T18:43:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T22:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23253"},"modified":"2019-03-15T18:43:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T22:43:34","slug":"getting-things-done-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/getting-things-done-7\/","title":{"rendered":"GETTING THINGS DONE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Mayor Tom Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council discussed a motion that I had brought forward concerning\nthe need for consistent, region wide regulation of cannabis use in public\nspaces.  Specifically, my motion asked\nthat Aurora request the Region to develop a Regional Bylaw that would speak to\npublic usage of cannabis \u2013 where public cannabis use would and would not be\nallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said at the table, residents have raised concerns\nabout attending town events such as the Christmas parade or Arctic Adventure and\nsomeone smoking cannabis beside their kids, so we need a clear and consistent Bylaw\nthat respects peoples rights both ways: respects the fact that this is a legal\nproduct that residents are legally allowed to use and respects our residents\nright to enjoy public spaces without their children being directly exposed to\ncannabis smoke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulating use in a public space though is not a\nstraightforward process.  While the Town\ncould create a standalone Bylaw that limits cannabis use to private residences\nonly and does not permit public use, this type of Bylaw is unenforceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality has no right to create Bylaws that speak\nto roadways \u2013 and that includes sidewalks. Thus, that means a municipal Bylaw\ncannot restrict use of cannabis on a public sidewalk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what can a municipality do that can be enforced? We\ncan create a Bylaw that prohibits use of cannabis in all public parks, special\nevent areas as well as during special events and sets a minimum distance from\nthe entrance to public buildings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Region does have a working group that has been\nworking on creating a cannabis public usage Bylaw. As was said at the table, this\nmotion would act as a catalyst for a discussion of the issue at Regional\nCouncil which would then afford Council the ability to give clear direction to\nthe working group, and, ultimately, bring forward a Bylaw that provides clear\nand consistent regulatory control of public use of cannabis across the Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A regional Bylaw is the best way forward, in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my discussions with YRP and the Region\u2019s solicitor, it\nwas stated that rather than nine separate municipal Bylaws, a consistent Bylaw,\nthat is adopted Region-wide would allow for easier enforcement.  It would also enable a clear and consistent understanding\nby both residents and officials of what is allowed and what is not allowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second part of the motion that was discussed by\nCouncil speaks to need for education and outreach. I believe that once any Bylaw\nis put into place there needs to be an education\/awareness campaign to inform\nthe public about the new Bylaw; to ensure residents are aware of what is and\nisn\u2019t allowed when using cannabis in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very pleased that the motion passed unanimously. I\nam looking forward to continuing this discussion at the Region and to have a Bylaw\nin place soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s all for this week. As always if you would like to\nget into contact with me please feel free to contact me anytime by phone\n905-727-3123 ext. 4746 or by email tmrakas@aurora.ca<\/a>,\nand if you would like to sign up for more newsletters and council updates then\nplease visit Mrakas.ca\/contact to join the growing list of Aurorans that are\nstaying informed.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mayor Tom Mrakas Council discussed a motion that I had brought forward concerning the need for consistent, region wide regulation of cannabis use in public spaces.  Specifically, my motion asked that Aurora request the Region to develop a Regional Bylaw that would speak to public usage of cannabis \u2013 where public cannabis use would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-633","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 12:57:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}