Liquor Stores N.A. LQSIF

Ontario opportunities...

[Dibah42]

The province, which will become the second-largest pot market in the world after California when Canada legalizes recreational use on Oct. 17, is restricting licensed producers to just one retail location. This means major players like Canopy Growth Corp. and Aurora Cannabis Inc. will only be allowed to operate one store on the site of a production facility, while the rest of the market will be opened to independent retailers.

However, the province has not yet clarified whether affiliated companies will be able to avoid the one-store limit, providing a potential workaround for the producers. For example, Aurora holds a 25 per cent stake in Alberta-based liquor retailer Alcanna Inc. and it remains up in the air whether Alcanna would be able to open additional Aurora-branded stores under the new rules.

• Ontario won’t cap the number of cannabis retail licences
• Ontario Cannabis Store announces supply agreements with 26 licensed producers for online sales
• ‘The old plan wasn’t much of a plan’: How Ontario’s new pot plan targets the black market

“There could be potential for them to be strategic in how they roll out more than one store,” said Matt Bottomley, analyst at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.