Prince George City Council approved two more Temporary Use Permits for the sale of cannabis last night (Mon) at their meeting.
The owner and operators of the BX Pub, Jason Mousseau and Ted Brown, applied for a permit for 484 Douglas Street.
There was correspondence sent to the city with 25 signatures citing the location of the store as an issue, including that it was on the route for students on their way to school and adjacent to an apartment building with young families.
Despite the opposition, council voted unanimously to award them the permit.
Zaga’s Hemp Shop, which has been open as a cannabis accessory establishment for 15 years in the city, was also given the green light for a permit. They had one letter of opposition, but owner Ginny Burnett said given the absence of the letter’s author at the council meeting, she didn’t think they were that disheartened about it.
She said it’s been an arduous task working with the province on getting everything they need to apply for the permit.
“I think everybody is overthinking it, it’s just a retail business. It’s not a big deal,” said Burnett.
“We’ve been around for a long time, we’ve never been on the wrong side of the law. We’ve always been very careful about how we’ve handled ourselves.”
There are now five places approved to sell cannabis in the Northern Capital, three private and two government-run locations.
On what that influx will do for business, Burnett had this to say:
“Everybody offers something different, every store is going to be different. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for any of us.”
“Competition is a good thing, it keeps people honest.”