Late last week in the Muskoka town of MacTier, word began spreading that councillors had quietly voted to consider a plan to shut down the local arena and allow a private company to take it over.
The proposed new business: a medical marijuana factory.
“I was caught off guard. I didn’t really believe it,” said Steven Schell, a long-time resident of the cottage town, home to about 1,000 people.
The MacTier Community Centre — a place where local couples get married, kids play hockey and seniors play cards — sits in the centre of town, directly across the street from an elementary school. The distance from one building to the other is 67 metres, according to Schell, who measured it Wednesday afternoon.
“I can throw a golf ball that far,” said the father of three, a local contractor. “When our kids are outside playing in the playground, they’d be looking across the street at a marijuana grow-op.”
Councillors for the Township of Georgian Bay voted last week in a closed-door meeting to sign a letter of intent with Mettrum Ltd. — the Ontario-based company proposing to create the factory — and begin discussions about the proposed pot production and research plant.
– Read the entire article at Mississauga.com.
