National Post (National Edition)
Ontario to allow pot in private stores next year
Abandoning previous Liberal liquor store plan
TORONTO • Ontario announced Monday that it is abandoning the previous Liberal plan for a government-owned monopoly on legalized marijuana sales, earning praise from pot producers that could gain a new route to cannabis consumers in Canada’s largest province.
The newly elected Progressive Conservative government’s proposal for recreational cannabis — with some critical details still to come, and just weeks away from federal legalization — aims for online sales by the province at first, but eventually to allow for the private sector to open bricks-andmortar pot shops.
“The Government of Ontario will not be in the business of running physical cannabis stores,” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said. “Instead, we will work with privatesector businesses to build a safe, reliable retail system that will divert sales away from the illegal market.”
Monday’s announcement follows the election of Premier Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives and reverses the plan of the previous Liberal government, which wanted to give the Liquor Control Board of Ontario a monopoly on the sale of recreational cannabis.
Under the new approach, Canada’s most populous province will still start selling cannabis online on the legalization date of Oct. 17, using a website run by the provincially owned Ontario Cannabis Store.
Fedeli said private retailers will have to follow a series of rules including prohibiting the sale of marijuana to anyone under the age of 19. Anyone caught violating the rules will face “severely escalating fines,” he said.
The province says this online retail channel will have a verification system to ensure safe delivery, and to make sure Ontario is ready to retail the product in time for legalization.
But Ontario will also have a “tightly regulated private retail model” for marijuana that is scheduled to be in place by April 1, according to a release, months after the drug is legalized by Ottawa.
The Ontario Cannabis Store will act as wholesaler and provide cannabis to the private-sector stores. No specific number of allowable private-sector stores was given on Monday.
Before launching the new private-sector model, the provincial government says it will consult with Indigenous communities, law enforcement and businesses, among others. More specifics about the province’s retail system will be ironed out through that process, such as what sort of businesses will be able to sell cannabis.
However, the Ford plan presents the possibility of another avenue to consumers for cannabis companies, which were quick to applaud the decision.
“By harnessing the power of the private sector, while responsibly regulating cannabis sales for adults, the government of Ontario has removed the capital and operational costs of bricks and mortar retail from taxpayers and shifted this burden to the private sector: A move that will save the treasury countless millions,” said Allan Rewak, executive-director of the Cannabis Council of Canada, an industry group representing major medical marijuana producers, in a release.
Ontario-based Newstrike Brands Ltd., parent company of licensed cannabis producer Up Cannabis Inc., likewise welcomed the move.
“We look forward to engaging the Ontario government on potential retail locations,” said Jay Wilgar, CEO of Newstrike, in a release.
Ontario’s original plan for selling marijuana, introduced by the Liberals, was to open 40 stand-alone cannabis stores in 2018 and up to 150 by the end of 2020. Reports then surfaced late last month that the newly elected Tories were moving toward privatizing cannabis sales in Ontario.
In altering its intended retail model, Ontario will join Western provinces, including Alberta and Manitoba, that aim to have a privatesector component to their legalized pot sales.