Ontario to issue 50 new cannabis store licences, eight to go to First Nations – The London Free Press
July 3, 2019
TORONTO — Ontario is set to get 50 more cannabis stores starting in October, and applicants will have to first show they have their finances and retail space ready to go.
The announcement Wednesday comes as some of the first 25 of the province’s legal pot shops that were supposed to open April 1 are still not up and running.
Those initial retailers were chosen through a lottery to open Ontario’s first brick-and-mortar cannabis stores — when the drug became legal recreationally last October it was only available online through the government-run Ontario Cannabis Store — and that lottery system has faced criticism for not including a merit component.
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will hold a lottery on Aug. 20 for the next 42 retail store authorizations. Another eight stores will be located on First Nations reserves through a separate process.
