Cannabis advocates launch Steinbach petition for retail cannabis vote

A group of Manitoba cannabis retailers have launched a petition to put retail cannabis sales on the Steinbach ballot during the municipal election.

Tobagrown, a cannabis producer and advocacy group, and Winnipeg-based retailer Flamingo Plus launched the petition on April 20 to garner signatures to hold a citywide plebiscite during the Oct. 28 municipal elections.

Since the campaign’s start, the petition has garnered 1,204 signatures, almost half of the required 3,300 or 20 percent of Steinbach’s population. An identical plebiscite petition has also been launched in Winker, after the city council previously voted down the initial resolution for the vote.

When speaking with residents, Jessie Lavoie, founder of Tobagrown, said the petition is about voters’ rights because many people want the chance to vote on having cannabis retailers, regardless of their support.

“Even people who are saying ‘I’d vote no,’ well, perfect. Please sign this petition because we need these signatures to get that question on the ballot,” he said.

The Carillon previously reported Steinbach city council voted against a resolution to holding a plebiscite on the issue in August 2025, prompted by Lavoie sending a letter asking for the vote.

Deputy Mayor Michael Zwaagstra said at the time he believed the issue was settled when cannabis retail sales were put to a vote in 2018. The 2018 plebiscite saw 55 percent of eligible Steinbach voters vote 76 percent against having the shops in the city.

Lavoie said the new vote would be different because there was little information available on legal cannabis in 2018 because the plebiscite was held a week after the federal government legalized its use. Now eight years later, more research and data is available to help people make a better informed decision, he said.

Statistics Canada reported in March that federal and provincial governments saw the biggest annual drop in alcohol earnings in 2024-2025 since 2004-2005 when it started tracking the data. Canadian alcohol sales landed at $25.8 billion, down 1.6 percent from 2023-2024. Cannabis sales have steadily increased since legalization, bringing in $2.5 billion in 2024-2025, a 11.5 percent boost than the year prior.

“A lot of people are just in the cannabis stigma mindset, where it’s like, ‘Oh no, that was illegal. It’s always been bad,’” Lavoie said, adding more education is needed on the legal cannabis benefits.

Without a legal option to purchase cannabis, people are forced to find it through the black market and illegal means, raising the risk, he said. Since legal cannabis shops have brought the price per gram down, illegal dealers try to push alternative drugs that are harsher because the profit margin is higher.

“If someone wants cannabis, all of a sudden there’s a menu of cocaine, meth and other drugs available from that same source. That’s the risk,” Lavoie said.

Brodie St Cyr, chief operating officer of Flamingo Plus, located at Loewen Boulevard and Brandt Street, said the store has seen people searching for legal cannabis “every day” since it opened in 2021.

The Winnipeg-based company has 11 branches in Winnipeg, Brandon, Winkler, Portage la Prairie, Stonewall and Steinbach. He said legal cannabis sales will remove the burden of having to drive to neighbouring communities such as La Broquerie, where cannabis sales are legal, to purchase products.

The risk of driving under the influence is increased when people have to drive long distances to get cannabis, St Cyr said.

“A lot of people were like, ‘I don’t consume it, but makes sense to not drive 15 minutes out where you can and 15 minutes back to risk a possible DUI,’” he said.

The deadline for the petitions is July 19. If enough signatures are gathered and the vote passes when residents head to the polls, Brodie said his shop could start selling cannabis in less than 30 days.