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None of the names of the successful applicants — Steven Fry, Lisa Bigioni, Ranjit Basra, 2674253 Ontario Inc., Santino J. Coppolino and Christopher Comrie — are known to Windsor cannabis advocates who say it’s likely Windsor will be shut out in this first round.

“The way the licensing worked is you didn’t put in a licence for a municipality, you put in a licence for the region and then the (successful) individual gets to determine which municipality they want to locate in,” said Jon Liedtke, operator of the recently closed Higher Limits cannabis lounge.

While he said he’s not sure the Ontario government would allow four of the seven licences to go to one municipality, he said it’s doubtful many of the lottery winners across the province will be able to open in any case.

The deadlines are simply too tight and the financial penalties for missing the deadlines are too punitive, he said. It would take one to two weeks to incorporate, two to five weeks to secure insurance, and many more weeks to find an appropriate location, he said. Liedtke predicts some of the successful applicants won’t make the April 1 deadline. If they miss it, they’re subject to a $12,500 fine, in addition to a $6,000 licence fee. And if they’re not fully operational by the end of April, the $50,000 from the letter of credit they’re required to supply would be kept by the government.

Liedtke said industry insiders he’s spoken to believe only three to seven stores in the entire province will open by April 1. Windsor council’s decision to opt in “was more-so symbolic for us,” he said.