Ontario won’t set limit on number of private marijuana stores

By ROB FERGUSONQueen's Park Bureau

Wed., Sept. 26, 2018

The sky’s the limit for private pot shops in Ontario, and recreational tokers will be able to fire up wherever it’s legal to puff on cigarettes under new legislation being introduced by Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government.

There will be no ceiling on the number of stores allowed to get provincial licences if their applications make the grade, Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said Wednesday.

Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Finance Minister Vic Fedeli revealed details Wednesday about new legislation that will regulate the selling of marijuana in Ontario. (MARK BLINCH / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The bill will give municipalities until Jan. 22 to decide if they want to bar weed shops within their boundaries, and will align pot smoking with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which prohibits indoor smoking in public places.

“If you’re able to smoke in your home, you’ll be able to smoke cannabis as well,” Mulroney said as she outlined the bill, which creates a new framework for the sale of recreational cannabis when it becomes legal across the country on Oct. 17.

While consultations are continuing with municipalities and other interest groups, “right now we’re not proposing a cap” on the number of brick-and-mortar stores to be allowed starting April 1, she added.

However, the government reserves the right to set “concentration limits” on the number of individual store licences that larger retailers will be allowed to collect, limiting their market share.

In other changes, licensed marijuana producers will be eligible for licences to sell from their high-security greenhouses, much like craft breweries sell take-home bottles of beer.

The legislation also allows the government to set regulations on “buffer zones” between pot shops and schools.

Mulroney said the hundreds of marijuana stores now operating illegally in Ontario will “not necessarily” be barred from getting licences, but must close before recreational marijuana becomes legal across the country Oct. 17 under federal law to pass strict due diligence testing.

“If you are operating an illegal cannabis store after Oct. 17 you will not be able to get a licence,” Fedeli added.

Liberal MPP Nathalies Des Rosiers (Ottawa-Vanier), a lawyer, said she was surprised and concerned to learn there will be no cap on the number of stores, despite government promises the industry will be “tightly regulated.”

“Other provinces have put a cap ... I hope they are ready to have a robust monitoring way of dealing with all these stores,” she said.

“If you’re opening the market to all these new licences you know it’s not going to be a carefully planned approach. The market will dictate.”

The NDP declined to comment, saying it is waiting to read the legislation when it is tabled in the Legislature on Thursday.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business applauded any moves to limit market share for retailers to, as Fedeli said, “open up the marketplace” to as many businesses as possible.

“The cannabis market should not be a windfall for large corporate players with inside access to the premier’s office,” Schreiner said in a statement, pledging to fight for small Ontario businesses and Indigenous communities seeking a piece of the marijuana pie.

Under changes from the previous Liberal government’s plan to sell weed only through a small number of government-owned Ontario Cannabis Stores and online, the province’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission will be the agency authorized to grant licences to private retail stores.

Retailers will have to apply for an overall operators licence and then apply separately for individual store locations. The AGCO will post application details locally for 15 days of input from the public.

The agency already has a “deep understanding of compliance and enforcement” in dealing with a controlled substance, and is best suited to the job with cannabis, Mulroney said.

As previously announced, the government-run Ontario Cannabis Store will be the sole legal source of recreational marijuana starting in three weeks, and its products will be available online only.

Fedeli said enthusiasts will not be able to pre-order for delivery on Oct. 17.

The legislation also changes the governance structure for the sale of weed, with an Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp. reporting directly to Fedeli as finance minister, meaning the Ontario Cannabis Store — the wholesaler of marijuana and online retailer — would no longer be a subsidiary of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Ontario is one of six provinces planning to allow private stores to sell marijuana products. The others are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1