CALGARY—Calgary’s would-be marijuana entrepreneurs have a clearer idea of when they might be able to open up shop as legislation to legalize recreational marijuana cleared an important hurdle this week.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed Bill C-45 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday that marijuana will be legal in Canada as of Oct. 17.

Matt Zabloski, the City of Calgary’s project lead for the legalization of cannabis, said that at his last check, there were more than 280 pending applications to establish cannabis retail stores in the city. With the official date of legalization set, city staff will now be able to move forward in processing them and making approval decisions.

The city doesn’t have a cap set for how many stores will be allowed to open in Calgary, but the Alberta government has said it expects to issue 250 licences provincewide for cannabis stores.

Zabloski said that while Calgary moves through the retail store approval process, city council is also examining reports to determine bylaws on cannabis consumption at festivals and events, as well as the distance between cannabis stores and payday loan businesses, pawn shops and places of worship.

“For us, the final date was the important piece for knowing when we need to start getting the communication out for the citizens of Calgary in terms of, this is what you can expect.”

Darren Bondar, CEO of Calgary-based recreational cannabis retailer Spiritleaf, said his company has had the “foot on the gas” to prepare for legalization for some time, but the announcement of the official date gives the company a better sense of a timeline for starting up the more than 100 franchises it hopes to open across Western Canada.

“Next steps are, we need to work with the (Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission) and municipalities to get zoning and licences and get stores up and running,” Bondar said.

“Now that they have that affirmation, that helps us move forward.”

The company hopes to open its first Calgary store on Macleod Trail, and is waiting for city approval in order to start hiring staff. Bondar said he anticipates hiring up to 500 people across the company’s franchises, depending on the approval process.

He said he’s happy with the outcome of the final legislation, particularly the federal government’s rejection of a Senate amendment that would have prohibited marijuana branding on promotional items. AGLC regulations will still prevent cannabis-branded merchandise from being sold in the same stores where marijuana is distributed, but it isn’t the same as the proposed blanket ban.

“We’re excited we’ll be able to promote our brand on things like T-shirts and other non-cannabis-related accessories. That’s good for the industry and realistic,” Bondar said.

420 Premium Market vice-president of operations Ryan Kaye said the October legalization date gives businesses a more realistic window to prepare.

“If the timeline was early September, it would have been very challenging for retailers to have their stores ready,” he said.

The company already operates a medical-cannabis resource centre in the Inglewood neighbourhood, and Kaye said it has close to 30 applications pending for retail locations across Alberta.

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“It really has been a really important day for us. We spent yesterday planning a hiring fair,” he said.

“The legalization date allows us to understand the timelines of how we scale to business and bring more people on board.”

Correction — Aug. 28, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Matt Zabloski’s last name.

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