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B.C.’s first hit from legal cannabis has fallen far short of the pre-legalization estimates written into last year’s budget.

The provincial Ministry of Finance expects B.C.’s share of federal excise taxes on legal marijuana sales will be $68 million over the next three years, substantially less than the estimate of $200 million over three years that the province wrote into its 2018/19 budget.

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B.C. has received its first $1.3-million payment from the federal government as its 75-per-cent share of excise taxes for the month of October, the Ministry of Finance confirmed this week, which officials have extrapolated to expectations of $68 million over the next three years. The 2018/19 budget had anticipated $50 million for the first partial year of legalization (when it was still assumed legalization would take effect July 1), and $75 million per year for the following two years.

“Given the associated costs, we do not expect substantial revenues from cannabis legalization,” said Finance Minister Carole James in an email response to Postmedia questions. Ministry staff said James wasn’t available for a follow-up interview.