The Ontario government says a Crown corporation will tightly regulate the province's private cannabis retail marketplace.
In A Wednesday afternoon announcement, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli and Attorney General Caroline Mulroney announced a bill will be introduced Thursday and it will appoint the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as regulator for the marketplace, giving it the power to grant — and potentially revoke — licences as well as enforce provincial rules on cannabis sales.
The government announced last month that it would sell recreational cannabis online when pot is legalized in October, with private retail stores to follow next year.
Ontario municipalities that want to opt out of hosting pot shops will have until January 22, 2019, to do so under the new legislation.
Under the new bill, a government agency called the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp is slated to handle the online cannabis sales, and a private retail model is scheduled to be in place by April of next year — the province has said the agency will also be the wholesaler to private retail stores.
The previous Liberal government had planned to give the Liquor Control Board of Ontario a monopoly on the sale of recreational cannabis, opening as many as 150 retail stores by 2020.
— with files from The Canadian Press