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BY ROCCO ROSSI AND PERRIN BEATTY

Ontario is at an important crossroads for the province’s burgeoning cannabis industry that has implications for the broader business community, and the country as a whole.

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As Queen’s Park contemplates further reforms for Ontario’s cannabis industry, successful models from other provinces have shown us what lessons can be learned in growing a local industry.

The government has passed into law, though not yet implemented, an open-allocation model under which retail licences are allocated to vetted retailers on a first-come, first-served basis.

They also modified the mandate of the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), allowing for privately run stores. These important reforms have opened the door to major economic growth, but only if we make the right moves now — moves that will affect thousands of jobs, the economy and investor confidence.

With only 24 stores for 14 million Ontarians, there are simply not enough locations, underscoring the need to implement the government’s open allocation retail model. In many cases, illegal cannabis remains cheaper and more convenient to access online than legal cannabis. Even with more retail stores coming online, the regulated cannabis market will not thrive unless we have the right policies in place to ensure it is competitive with the illegal market.