Conservatives' cannabis story doesn't add up

December 14, 2018

TORONTO — Mike Schreiner released the following statement following news about a hard cap on cannabis retail licenses

“We’ve gone from a Liberal plan for 40 stores to a PC plan for 25 stores, which will do nothing to combat the illegal unsafe underground cannabis market.

Most provinces had a dozen or more stores ready for legalization day, while Ontario had none. And now the country’s largest province will only have twenty-five stores opening six months after legalization. This government was not ready in October, and it’s still not ready today.

But rather than owning responsibility, the Finance Minister is punting all the blame to the federal government.

I understand the national supply shortage is having an impact, but at one time the government said that as many as 1,000 stores could be open in April. Were they misleading us?

And if supply is such a problem, why has the Finance Minister repeatedly assured us that the OCS online store is back operating as normal? The story does not add up.

I’m asking the Ford government to spend less time fighting with the federal government and more time working with them to address these supply challenges.

We owe it to people across the province to get the cannabis market working in a way that combats the unsafe underground market.”

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