Article content continued

Most notably, Canopy Growth Corp. entered into an agreement with convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. last week that also involved one of the province’s lottery winners. Both companies hope that pending a public consultation, the agreement will result in the opening of a Tweed-branded store in London, Ont.

“Is this lottery system designed to really help small business owners, like Ford said, or is it really a front to just let big companies take over the reins of some inexperienced business owners?” asked James. “All I really want is a fair system, and not this backroom dealing we are seeing.”

As part of the lawsuit, Cannabis & Coffee is also seeking for the province to grant it a cannabis retail license, in addition to the $1.1 million in alleged incurred expenses.

James is making the claims despite not having participated in the initial lottery.

He says he was hoping to enter into some kind of arrangement with a lottery winner and thought he would be disqualified from doing so if he participated in the lottery.

James, however, said no lottery winner ended up getting in touch with him.

“It seemed like the licenced producers had head hunters who were reaching out to these lottery winners so they didn’t even have the opportunity to reach out to me because they were being bombarded,” he said.

In an email to the Financial Post, the AGCO said they had not received notification of the lawsuit. The Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The province hopes to have 25 cannabis retail stores open by April 1, although no store locations have been definitively approved to date.

• Email: vsubramaniam@nationalpost.com | Twitter: VanmalaS