"They are making Ontario and Quebec look very bad"

Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are selling more cannabis than the rest of Canada due to a better framework, according to one industry expert.

“Manitoba and Saskatchewan are making Ontario and Quebec look very bad,” Chris Damas, editor of the BCMI Cannabis Report, told CBC.

The prairie provinces allow retailers to sell cannabis, but Saskatchewan allows producers to sell directly to store owners, an approach Ontario may soon adopt.

Damas says Alberta has led Canada’s per-capita sales because of lower pot prices coming from discounts for producers.

Statistics Canada shows the province sold $21 million worth of cannabis in Alberta in July 2019 and spent the most money on cannabis with $123.7 million between October 2018 and June 2019.

Ontario sold $29.6 million of cannabis spent $121.6 million respectively despite having three times more people.

Saskatchewan sold $6.3 million from cannabis stores and Manitoba sold $5.8 million, a number that has grown consistently since December 2018.

“Manitoba has been punching above its weight,” Damas told CBC. “We can’t expect that to change the industry structure, but I think Manitoba is doing very well.”

But the good news on the western side of Canada may not do much to quell the cloud looming over Canada’s legal cannabis industry, with plummeting stocks and a thriving underground market.

Damas compared the industry’s “bubble” to the mortgage meltdown.

“The spectre of empty greenhouses — half-filled, vacant — is now pervading [the] cannabis investor mind frame” he said. “Here at BCMI, we’re still looking for a very optimistic $172 million in monthly sales in December, which is 70 per cent or so more than what we had in July.

“It’s just that the stocks were too high and now they’re coming down to earth.”

• Email: bhristova@postmedia.com | Twitter: bobbyhristova

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