The Cannabis Act is inching ever closer to becoming law with the senate's June 7 vote on legalizing adult-use recreational marijuana. But the federal government is leaving many of the specifics to the provinces. That means this week's election in Ontario could be a big deal to the province's current and potential cannabis consumers because, whichever way it goes, the current Liberal government is out so her plans could be tossed into the dustbin of history.
Many have criticized Kathleen Wynne's cannabis plans, and even though she's already conceded the election, her government passed its cannabis distribution legislation December 12. Restricting sales to the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation and banning private retailers upset many people. The amount the Liberals spent on branding the impending Ontario Cannabis Store upset even more.
Then there's the only 40 stores planned to open by legalization day (though Ontario will allow online sales), doubling to 80 by summer 2019, to serve a province of around 14 million people. That is, if they can even find enough locations more than 450 metres from schools, which is near impossible in a densely populated city like Toronto. (In comparison, there are 660 LCBO stores, another 212 LCBO agency stores and 447 outlets of the privately-owned Beer Store.)
The regulations, as they currently stand, also ban cannabis consumption in public, as well as workplaces, vehicles and boats, and allow home grows based on federal law, which is four plants for recreational use.
So what impact will the next PC or NDP premier have on Ontario's recreational cannabis rules?
Doug Ford's PCs are neck-and-neck in the polls but are leading in seat projections. The reported former hash dealer—if you haven't read this 2013 Globe & Mail story, which Ford denies, you really should—kicked off his campaign on March by announcing on CBC that he'd consider allowing private retail.
“I have been open to a fair market and letting the markets dictate,” Ford said on CBC. “I don't like the government controlling anything no matter what it is... I'm open to a free market and I'm going to consult with our caucus.... I don't believe in the government sticking their hands in our lives all the time. I believe in letting the market dictate.”
That didn't last long. He quickly walked back his off-the-cuff policy pronouncement. "I think we start off with the liquor stores, and eventually I believe in the free market, so I just believe in the free market and let the market dictate," he told Global. "We've got to be super, super, super careful."
(Wynne, meanwhile, railed against loosening her crown corp-only plan by warning of “a situation where you have marijuana and beer and wine beside the candy bars.” Wonder if she remembers it was her government that allowed beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores beside the candy bars, and that she campaigned on expanding those sales to even more private shops?)
Ford hasn't said much else on the cannabis file since the early days, but he will no doubt have to balance his innate desire for free-market cannabis sales with the concerns of the Christian right that helped secure his conservative leadership win.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath is from Hamilton, which has one of the highest-density cannabis dispensary scenes in Canada. As well, her son Julian Leonetti briefly worked at a Toronto location of the Canada Bliss Herbal Society, a chain of medical cannabis dispensaries based in Vancouver, before it was raided and closed by police.
“He was not working there at the time the storefront was raided,” said Rebecca Elming, a media relations officer at Ontario’s NDP caucus, told Lift & Co. News in an email last March. She added that Horwath and the ONDP are concerned about the limited number of brick-and-mortar storefronts but did not comment on opening up cannabis sales to private retailers to address these concerns.
“Horwath has long-supported a legal, regulated cannabis industry,” Elming continued. “She has serious concerns about Kathleen Wynne's plan to restrict the initial number of cannabis retail locations to just 40 for the province—which will allow organized crime to thrive, and erode assurances that products are safe."
Horwath has also warned of Ontario farmers planting "massive marijuana crops," on prime agriculture land at the expense of growing food. Presumably, she would want to legislate some restrictions but has made no policy announcements regarding this.
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