Provincial Updates/
Ontario
In February, following the completion of industry-wide consultations, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has implemented certain updates to the Registrar’s Standards for Ontario’s Cannabis Retail Stores that clarify the AGCO’s limitations on “inducements” between licensed producers (LPs) and licensed cannabis retailers. Please consult the AGCO’s website for more information.
Manitoba
Organigram Inc., a leading licensed producer of cannabis, launched of its social impact strategy ‘Organigram Operating for Good’ with the purpose of ‘Building healthy communities where we live and work.’ As part of this strategy, the Company has committed to giving back by joining the Pledge 1% Movement. Organigram has pledged ‘1% of Time’, which means the Company will be donating 1% of its employees’ time to local volunteer programs across its employees in New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba.
Alberta
In March, private cannabis retailers began online sales to customers. The Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) exited the digital market after the provincial government made the legal change last year. Cannabis retailers must have an endorsement to their license from AGLC for online sales, and these stores must also have a physical retail store in order to get the license. In a statement, the AGLC said it is also businesses’ responsibility to ensure “age-gating” is in place, a process that needs to go beyond requiring a potential customer to enter a date of birth before gaining access to the website. The AGLC also introduced a 6% markup to the wholesale price of cannabis products late in February.
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Cannabis Prospect Magazine | April 2022
Quebec
The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) had total sales of $190.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021-2022, a $17.5 million increase from the third quarter of its preceding fiscal year. This allowed the company to report net income of $26.4 million, compared with $23.3 million in the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2020-2021. For the period from September 12, 2021, to January 1, 2022, sales totalled $190.5 million. For their part, online sales reached 1,736 kg of cannabis for total dollar sales of $9.6 million, with 117,554 transactions being completed. The store network sold 32,846 kg of cannabis for dollar sales totalling $180.9 million.
Saskatchewan
A woman charged with driving while impaired by THC causing the death of a girl is the first person in Saskatchewan to face this type of charge. On Sept. 9, 2021, nine-year-old Baeleigh Maurice was crossing a marked crosswalk on her scooter on 33rd Street West when she was hit by a truck. The driver, a then 27-year-old woman, has been charged with “impaired operation while exceeding the prescribed blood-drug concentration of THC causing death.” While charges involving alcohol as an impairment have been laid in the past, Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Justice says this is the first cannabis impairment causing death charge laid since the new federal cannabis legislation came into force in 2019.
British Columbia
In March, cannabis retailer Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. said its subsidiary Pineapple Express Delivery Inc. will start to offer next-day delivery to the provincially-run cannabis stores. The partnership comes after Pineapple Express won a request-for-proposal process with the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch. The B.C. Chamber of Commerce wants the provincial government to work with federal authorities to revamp the national excise tax for cannabis producers, which the organization says applies a financial burden to both cultivators and consumers. It also made 12 other policy recommendations in its report, which aims to help grow the legal cannabis industry, improve economic competitiveness and diversify the economy.
