lou64 wrote: Ford needs more time to consult with cities and he is willing to pay out $ 40 million to buy more time ( count it ) " 2 YEARS " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
more time then some think
like I said that he buys time and will need extension and it is black / white print !! ( 2 YEARS )
look out below
Ontario is ditching plans for government-run cannabis outlets in favour of letting private businesses run the shops.
The last-minute switch means people in Ontario won’t be able to shop in any stores at all when recreational marijuana becomes legal across the country on Oct. 17.
However, online cannabis sales will be ready on Day 1, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli promised Monday. The government aims to have private stores running by April 1, 2019, he said.
That will leave time to consult widely on the new system, he said.
In the meantime, Ontarians will be able to buy their pot online from the province’s Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp., the subsidiary of the LCBO set up by the previous Liberal government that was supposed to operate both online sales and stores. The subsidiary had promised to set up 40 Ontario Cannabis Stores by the end of the year, and 150 by 2020.
The Conservatives confirmed on Monday they were opting for private stores only. The Ontario Cannabis Store will act as a wholesaler and operate the online system.
Fedeli also threw a new wrinkle into the plans: he said municipalities will be given a one-time chance to opt out of having cannabis stores in their jurisdictions.
Ontario now joins Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland in allowing private stores to handle cannabis sales. B.C. will allow both government-run and private stores, while the Yukon will start with a government outlet before allowing private retailers. In the rest of the provinces, government agencies will run cannabis stores.
Many of the details of the new Ontario plan still have to be worked out.
Some major questions remain about how the private store system will operate: Will there be a limit on how many stores can be licensed in Ontario? On how many stores can be owned by any one company? Will those involved in the huge illegal marijuana trade — including dispensary owners — be welcome to participate? What responsibilities will be handed to municipalities?
Fedeli promised to consult with municipalities, and offered them $40 million in “transition funding” over the next two years.
Depending on how this rolls out, municipalities may have to approve zoning changes to determine where stores can be located. Under the LCBO subsidiary model, municipalities were consulted, and public consultations were promised over tentative locations. But the provincial government ultimately had the final say in where government-run stores would be located.
The Liberals said they chose the LCBO model to help ensure a safe, controlled rollout as Canada enters the world of legal pot. Some entrepreneurs and cannabis activists had lobbied for both private industry participation and more stores in order to create a thriving industry and combat the black market.
The change will be a bonanza for companies eager to do business in the province that will be Canada’s largest marijuana market. The latest report from Statistics Canada estimated that about 4.6 million people nationally, or close to 16 per cent of Canadians aged 15 years or older, reported using cannabis in the prior three-month period. In Ontario, the rate was 18 per cent. Given Ontario’s population of 13.97 million, that amounts to about 2.5 million potential pot customers.
The survey also found that most (82 per cent) of respondents said they would be unlikely to try cannabis or to increase their consumption after legalization.