Our CityNews inbox has been inundated with complaints from viewers about the tardiness of the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) and the delay customers have been experiencing when it comes to receiving their marijuana in the mail.

Well we now have an answer from Ontario minister of finance, Vic Fedeli, as to why it is taking so long for the OCS to ship its pot products.

“The criminals lied to us,” Fedeli told members of the media at Queen’s Park Thursday.

“Our assumptions, of course, were based on all illegal sales”

“All of the cannabis store assumptions were made… based on illegal data, illegal information from illegal sales.. and guess what, the criminals lied to us, they did not properly report their sales, if you can imagine that happening, so our assumptions of course were based on all illegal sales.”

When cannabis was legalized across Canada on Oct. 17, the only location where someone could legally purchase marijuana in Ontario was through the OCS website: ocs.ca.

The website was flooded with customers, receiving 12,000 orders in the first hour and more than 100,000 in the first 24 hours.

“Now at a 100,000 orders on the very first night, that is certainly larger than every single other province in the country put together… ,” Fedeli said.

So what is the province’s solution when it comes to fulfilling customer’s demands? And when can people expect their pot?

Fedeli wasn’t clear.

“The Ontario Cannabis Store continues to ship on a 24/7 basis, they have continued to receive a supply… a 100,000 orders, let’s be frank, far exceeds everybody’s expectations.”

The province will expand the sale of pot to private sellers in April 2019.

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