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Ontario’s plan to control the sale of marijuana through 150 government-run stores and an online service may be bad news for the province’s illegal dispensaries, but it’s a win for Ontario’s public-sector union, which lobbied hard for government control of the market.

“I’m pretty pleased with what the plan looks like so far,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “I’ve been lobbying the government for a long time on this, so I like to think we had some influence.”

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Thomas expects the sale of recreational marijuana to create about 2,000 new public sector jobs in Ontario in the next three or four years.

He said he met with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Thursday, and she told him he’d like what he heard during the official announcement on Friday morning. “I’ll give her credit on this one,” he said.

If you operate one of these facilities, consider yourself on notice. Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi

On Friday, Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Finance Minister Charles Sousa unveiled their plan to open 40 stores by July 2018, the deadline the federal government has set to legalize marijuana, with 150 stores to be open by 2020. The outlets will by overseen by the province’s liquor control board (LCBO). Ontarians will also be able to buy marijuana online by July 2018. Dispensaries that have cropped up across the province will remain illegal and will be shut down, Naqvi said. “If you operate one of these facilities, consider yourself on notice.”