When Medicine Hat mayor Ted Clugston got word that one of Canada’s largest licensed cannabis producers, Aurora, was moving to town in 2018, he felt a little nervous. The Hat, a city of about 63,000, is one of the most politically conservative towns in Canada and it has the oldest demographic in Alberta.
Those plans have now been adjusted to fit the company’s revenue realities and tight cash flow: Thirty-six grow rooms have been scaled back to six. About 250,000 square feet of the facility is expected to be operational this year, with plans to build out the rest in the future. Clugston says Aurora has told him that the 600 jobs he had hoped for will now be closer to 100.
Rocky retail roll-outManagement at Calgary-based Westleaf originally planned on opening 50 retail stores across Western Canada by the end of 2020. But that strategy has been tweaked. Instead, it will focus on fewer stores in major cities and resort towns like Banff. A town hall later this month will decide the future of cannabis in the town. If Altona goes with a ban, they will join at least six other communities in Manitoba that opted-out of cannabis sales. In Ontario, 73 municipalities have opted-out — another factor hurting the bottom line.
Ryan attributes Meta’s retail success to its unique partnerships with smaller communities, including Canada’s first federally regulated cannabis store on First Nations land. It’s about 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg, in Opaskwayak Cree Nation, and employs 12 locals. OCN is a 10 per cent shareholder in Meta Growth, and also owns shares in Trichome Financial Corporation, which supports cannabis businesses and alleviates another hurdle the industry has faced: Aversion to risk and high fees from Canada’s major financial institutions.
In November, Ontario ditched the much maligned lottery system to move towards open allocation. According to some estimates, the change could lead to the creation of 14,000 jobs. But it won’t happen overnight.
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