With only eight days left before voters head to the polls in Toronto's municipal election, Mayor and incumbent mayoral candidate John Tory had other concerns on his mind Sunday morning.
In a release sent by Tory spokesperson Don Peat, the Mayor describes his worries about cannabis legalization and its impact on the city of Toronto.
"I believe in the early days of legalization all three governments must be in constant contact on the impacts of legalization," Tory said in the written statement. "Through the City Manager, I have directed that all relevant City departments, including Toronto Police and Municipal Licensing and Standards, provide regular updates on what they are observing."
Tory says he will share the information with municipal, provincial and federal government officials.
"I believe this real-time information and ongoing discussion will be important as we navigate this new territory," he added. "I hope this information will also help steer the discussion about cannabis retail stores."
On Friday, Tory penned a letter to Ontario's Attorney General Caroline Mulroney, informing her of the city's plans to keep residents and families safe.
He says while he supports the legalization of the drug, it's essential that neighbourhood safety is maintained, public health is protected and that the city does not have to pay extra for increased law enforcement and social costs that come as a result of cannabis legalization.
He also says he doesn't believe Torontonians will be supportive of the sheer number of storefront cannabis outlets that are expected to pop up in the coming months.
"I just hope that we will have the resources and the support of the other governments in making sure that we can protect neighbourhoods and protect public safety and not see any kind of expansion of these [cannabis] dispensaries which we've seen go up and down in the past in terms of their numbers," Tory told reporters Sunday morning.
"I think we're going to have to keep a very close eye on this," he added, "especially given the number of unanswered questions that there are that I think are going to confront the city, they're going to confront people as they come to get used to the new reality that comes upon us."
Cannabis will be legalized later this week, on October 17.
- With a file from CP24