Canada - Ontario to allow private retailers to sell cannabis

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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Ontario to allow private retailers to sell cannabis, province will handle online sales
Ryan Patrick Jones
CBC
August 13th, 2018

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government announced Monday it will allow recreational pot to be sold in retail stores while the province will handle online sales.

Minister of Finance Vic Fedeli and Attorney General Caroline Mulroney laid out the government's plan for a hybrid system in an announcement Monday at Queen's Park, stressing their priorities would be ensuring public safety and eliminating the black market.

"The government of Ontario will not be in the business of running physical cannabis stores," said Fedeli. "Instead we will work with private-sector businesses to build a safe, reliable retail system that will divert sales away from the illegal market."

Starting Oct. 17, the province will introduce a system for online sales through the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) to meet the federal government's requirements that provinces be ready for retail sales by that date. The government will then launch a consultation process with the aim of introducing a private retail model by Apr. 1.

The proposal scraps the previous Liberal government's plan for a provincial monopoly on cannabis sales that would have seen the government operate 150 brick-and-mortar stores by 2020.
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Second Cup shares rise on news it may convert some Ont. outlets to cannabis shops
CBC
August 16th, 2018

Shares of Second Cup gained ground on Thursday, a day after the coffee chain said it was eyeing converting some of its Ontario outlets to cannabis shops.

After getting as high as $3.20 earlier in the day, Second Cup shares finished up 14 cents to $2.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange

On Wednesday, after stock markets had closed for the day, Second Cup and its partner, National Access Cannabis Corp.(NAC), said they are actively looking at Second Cup shops that might be changed to cannabis retail stores that would run under the name Meta Cannabis Supply Co.

Second Cup says it has more than 130 coffee outlets in Ontario.
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To be honest, I didn't expect this at all despite the walloping that the PCs gave to their counterparts, especially the libs. Good riddance to Wynne, however, Ford as her replacement left me conflicted.

Be that as it may, I think that private retailership is what was desired in the first place, right?
 
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