Ontario won’t cap pot shops, gives municipalities veto option

The Ontario government says it will not put a cap on pot shops when it starts licensing and regulating the province’s private cannabis retail marketplace.

The Progressive Conservative government says a bill set to be introduced Thursday will appoint the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as regulator for the marketplace, giving it the power to grant — and potentially revoke — licences, as well as enforce provincial rules on cannabis sales. The province said Wednesday that anyone looking to open a pot shop will have to apply for both a retail-operator licence and a retail store authorization for each potential location. Breaching provincial rules on cannabis sales would preclude someone from ever obtaining a licence in the future, it said. “Any engagement with organized crime, any record of providing youth cannabis, any of that would bar you from participating in the private cannabis market,” Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said. “If you are still operating an illegal retail operation after Oct. 17, you would not be able to get a licence in Ontario.”

The government announced last month that it would sell recreational cannabis online when pot is legalized in October, with private retail stores to follow next year. Under the new bill, a government agency called the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp. is slated to handle the online cannabis sales, and a private retail model is scheduled to be in place by April. Ontario municipalities that want to opt out of hosting pot shops will have until Jan. 22, 2019, to do so under the new legislation. The previous Liberal government had planned to give the Liquor Control Board of Ontario a monopoly on the sale of recreational cannabis, opening as many as 150 retail stores by 2020.