A rollercoaster of public opinion in Canada’s core marketplace; should recreational cannabis should be sold in public, government run stores, managed by the liquor control board? Here’s what happened in Ontario, Canada around 2017 under Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Late 2016
The Liberal government of Ontario under Kathleen Wynne initially announced that the retail model for cannabis retail in Ontario would be handled by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). In a late 2016 Toronto Star article, it was stated that Wynne was “keeping an open mind” about the role the LCBO would play in the business of recreational cannabis.
Wynne’s earliest statements on recreational cannabis regulation in Ontario (2016). Credit: CityNews
April, 2017
Ontario was the first province to unveil initial plans for retail cannabis and this did not come without public criticism.
Read more at Maclean’s, “How Will the Provinces Sell Pot?” by Shannon Proudfoot, April 2017.
September, 2017
The next iteration of plans by the former Liberal government, was a plan for 150 dedicated cannabis retail stores, run by the liquor control board of Ontario. The same person who proudly launched the sales of beer in private Ontario grocery stores decided that cannabis retail should be restricted only to public, government run stores.
Read more at Global News
This exhibit from a VICE “Drugs” column in 2017 illustrates perfectly the frustration felt by the cannabis consuming demographic. Read more at Vice.
December, 2017
By the end of 2017 the Liberal government Ontario successfully passed the Cannabis Act, opposed by the conservatives, declaring cannabis to only be sold by the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), a subsidiary of the LCBO.
The Ontario Cannabis Act would permit only 150 licensed retail storefronts in the province, read more at the Toronto Star.
This plan was eventually scrapped by the new conservative government in Ontario under Doug Ford in 2018.
Wynne making statements on the enforcement of illegal (unlicensed) stores in Ontario as the government unveils plans to regulate retail sales; Has confidence in local police forces taking ongoing necessary measures to shut down these shops.
The next exhibit will feature Doug Ford’s overhaul of Wynne’s retail framework, and the private retail rollout in Ontario in 2018/2019.
Cannabis Business Museum 