Listening to Jukka Laurio argue about his business licence before city council is something of a familar experience for regular members of the gallery, but March 21 may have been his final appearance.
乌鸦传媒淚t has been an admirable struggle. I really enjoyed the process and you are all noble and worthy adversaries. I think a lot of public education came out of this,乌鸦传媒� said Laurio, explaining that he was closing the shop as of 6 p.m. on March 23, referencing the warning issued by the RCMP last week.
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Council was being asked to cancel Laurio乌鸦传媒檚 business licence on Herbal Green, which he operates as a marijuana dispensary. Last summer, he had a previous business licence cancelled over the marijuana sales issue.
乌鸦传媒淚 won乌鸦传媒檛 spend too much time on the background because it has been repeated so many times,乌鸦传媒� said bylaw supervisor Tina Seibert, introducing her report to council.
On Nov. 9, Laurio applied for a business licence for Herbal Green as a food and nutritional retail store, which the city granted him on Jan. 3.
乌鸦传媒淗e assured city staff that it would not include the sale of cannabis products,乌鸦传媒� said Seibert. 乌鸦传媒淗e told us he wanted to have a grocery store, basically.乌鸦传媒�
Lukka, however, continued to sell marijuana and related products, and contested Seibert乌鸦传媒檚 evaluation: 乌鸦传媒淚 wouldn乌鸦传媒檛 say false, it was just sort of not fully disclosed.乌鸦传媒�
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乌鸦传媒淩ecently, staff have found a motion detector and a CCTV camera, all installed on city property, without city permission,乌鸦传媒� said Siebert. 乌鸦传媒淭hat乌鸦传媒檚 just within the last couple of weeks.乌鸦传媒�
Siebert also said they had received a number of noise, odour and parking complaints related to the business.
So far, Lukka has stacked up two bylaw offence notices at $250 each and 59 municipal ticket information (MTI) fines at $500 each, for a total of $30,000 owed to the city. Seibert said that issue is expected to go to provincial court in early April.
乌鸦传媒淏asically, he has disputed all of those tickets. We have jumped from MTIs to civil injunction requests,乌鸦传媒� said Seibert, who noted in her report that the city has spent over $10,000 in legal and labour costs dealing with marijuana dispensaries like Laurio乌鸦传媒檚.
They乌鸦传媒檝e also collected $26,900 in fines from non-compliant dispensaries.
City staff wanted council to suspend or cancel Laurio乌鸦传媒檚 business licence, and to direct staff to start the legal proceedings against Laurio, both to prevent his ongoing violation of city bylaw and apply for ancillary relief.
Laurio was complimentary to Seibert乌鸦传媒檚 report when he stepped up to present his case.
乌鸦传媒淚t is an excellent piece of work. One of the best ones that has ever come forward so far,乌鸦传媒� said Laurio. 乌鸦传媒淚t is just disappointing that I am not going to be able to dispute it, refute it or argue about it.乌鸦传媒�
Laurio said it was up to council whether they wanted to continue with the Supreme Court injunction proceedings.
乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 really care what you do from this point on. I don乌鸦传媒檛 really know what I am going to do,乌鸦传媒� said Laurio, who remained elusive when asked whether he planned to pay the fines owed to the city before the provincial court case.
乌鸦传媒淚f you want to negotiate something between now and then, I am fine,乌鸦传媒� he told city council. 乌鸦传媒淚 am perfectly willing to go to court and we can argue. I am pretty good at arguing.乌鸦传媒�
Seibert said Laurio乌鸦传媒檚 closure plans were 乌鸦传媒渘ews to us乌鸦传媒� and asked council to endorse the staff request to take Laurio to Supreme Court.
乌鸦传媒淲e should proceed with the injunctive request, just because you can say one thing and do another,乌鸦传媒� said Seibert. 乌鸦传媒淯ntil there is a definite solution in place, I would prefer we continue our process.乌鸦传媒�
Council voted unanimously to cancel Laurio乌鸦传媒檚 business licence and allow staff to continue with legal action.
