Province aims to boost number of cannabis dispensaries

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This article was published 24/07/2018 (2793 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government has opened up another round for potential bidders as it looks to expand the number of cannabis dispensaries slated to open in the province.

On Monday, Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen announced that the government had issued a request for pre-qualifications to bring stores into underserviced communities.

In a news release, the minister reiterated the government’s goal to eliminate the black market by providing 90 per cent of Manitobans with access to legal cannabis, within a 30-minute drive or less, within two years of this year’s legalization.

“Ensuring public health and safety remains our top priority,” Pedersen said. “We believe cannabis sourced from federally licensed producers and sold by provincially-licensed and regulated retailers will better protect the health and safety of Manitobans.

The province approved four proposals earlier this year to operate more than 30 retail cannabis stores in Manitoba, following a request for proposals that was issued in the winter.

The four successful candidates included a consortium between Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. and Canopy Growth Corp., National Access Cannabis, the Brandon-based B.O.B. Headquarters in partnership with Tokyo Smoke — a subsidiary of Hiku Brands — and a numbered corporation featuring several groups.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Canopy Growth had acquired Tokyo Smoke.

The same retailers who were awarded stores in the initial tender will be eligible for the second round, said David von Meyenfeldt, press secretary to the ministrer of growth, enterprise and trade. Submissions will be accepted until Aug. 31.

“It’s really working towards getting to that 90 per cent point,” von Meyenfeldt said, “depending on which communities, and where a business opportunity would present, and where somebody would be interested in going.”

Delta 9 was the first to confirm it would open a location in Brandon. Speaking to The Brandon Sun this month, CEO John Arbuthnot said the shop would be an “Apple Store-esque” outlet located in a “tier one” commercial space.

The company’s director of communications, Gary Symons, said on Monday that the shop would be in the “dead centre of town” and that the company is also interested in the province’s next tender for retail cannabis stores.

“Yes, this is absolutely something we have been planning all along on pursuing,” he said.

Delta 9 has plans to open four stores by the end of the year, including two in Winnipeg, one in Brandon and another in Thompson.

Symons said the company was happy that the province was moving ahead quickly on retail stores and he described the Manitoba government as ahead of the curve in how it was reacting to the legalization of cannabis.

The focus, he said, of Delta 9 is to serve the people of Manitoba first and foremost, and to meet the province’s stated target for access to cannabis. “We’re very much focused on Manitoba as our primary market.”

Robert Ritchot, co-owner of B.O.B. Headquarters, said he wanted to see what the province was looking for before commenting on Monday’s announcement.

His business partners at Tokyo Smoke recently posted an online job advertisement for a store manager position in Brandon, indicating that they have targeted the Wheat City for a cannabis dispensary.

Growers ’n Smokers owner Rick Macl, who had his application denied during the first provincial tender, said he wasn’t planning on submitting another proposal.

“I don’t want nothing to do with cannabis at all,” he said. “I would make more off a package of rolling papers than a gram of cannabis.”

Macl has been critical of the plans to legalize cannabis, arguing that current regulations, combined with insurance costs, will prevent companies from making any profit, meaning the price of cannabis will be more than what it would sell for on the black market.

“If the government actually thought that they were actually going to compete with the black market, they’ve already priced themselves out,” he said.

» mlee@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @mtaylorlee