Article content continued

Premier Doug Ford had mused on the campaign trail about tinkering with the province’s plans, and had expressed support for a private pot market. But he tempered those comments once he formed government, and while those in the industry had been pushing for a move like this, few expected them to scrap the system that had already been set up.

The private cannabis industry has had its eye on the Ontario market for some time. Estimates have pegged its value at around $2 billion annually, and, based on population, it should easily be the single most valuable provincial market.

Will Stewart, vice-president of communications at Hiku (which runs five Tokyo Smoke coffee-and paraphernalia-shops in Toronto), said that the news brought “lots of cheers of glee.” Stewart has always believed that cannabis would eventually be sold privately in Ontario, but that it was “something that we had thought would come in a few years, maybe in 2019.”

What, exactly, the move to privatize sales means in technical terms remains anybody’s guess: an official announcement is rumoured to be coming on Tuesday. Linton said Canopy will have a clearer idea of what its strategy will be once that happens, but said the experience of planning stores in other provinces should have it well-positioned to be one of the leading retailers.

There will be lots to do in less than three months if Ontario is to take part in legal sales on Oct. 17. Legislation will likely need to be passed to scrap the existing Crown corporation; a licensing system will need to be set up, and a competitive process of applications will need to be held; municipalities will likely need to figure out how to zone stores and sort out planning issues that were previously the province’s job.