The Mother’s Room at Canopy Growth Smiths Falls PHOTO BY theWedge.LIVE
By Philip Anders, Contributor, theWedge.LIVE A New Voice for East Ontario
The winners of the Ontario Cannabis Lottery were announced in the last 24 hours. All were chosen by a random process verified by KPMG. Over 17,000 applications were submitted.
Among the winners we see no identifiable Ontario big names; however, there are a few numbered companies with no descriptives. We do not believe that either Cronos, Aurora or Canopy entered the lottery under any guise as the federal legislation has recently stated that producer cannot be retailer. There is always the opportunity to approach the winners and make a deal of sorts; yet, the sole wholesaler is OCS.
Producers marketing to retailers in Ontario are now limited to education and information hoping they will specify their brands. It’s an odd thing that recreational is looking more like pharmacies with a little access.
Getting to market in recreational will not be as much fun as the big 5 had imagined in Canada and especially Ontario with its double whammy. The whole world is gradually opening up to cannabis. Perhaps other nations will offer better markets for Canadian LPs.
We’ll know more on Monday. We are all dealing with developments by the seat of our pants.
A longer wait-list has also been chosen at random should the first winners fail to meet the requirements of the AGCO.
Lottery winners must submit a Retail Operator Licence Application by January 18th detailing how they will have a store ready by April 1st. This should have been the first step.
I just don’t see free-market capitalism in this process–provincially or federally. It feels like a state-run industry from end to end. The black market will thrive.
All winners will be subject to a background check including financial and tax records. They will have to submit a $50,000 letter of credit and a non-refundable $6,000 fee. If applicants don’t pass these tests the AGCO will turn to a wait-list of applicants.
It seems most of the winners are individuals with unknown knowledge or ability. The $75 fee to apply apparently did not vet applicants for fundamentals. This puts another obstacle in ramping up and will likely translate into problems on the front lines in Ontario. It looks like a Mousetrap, the game.
Here are the winners and wait-lists (reproduced under Fair Use):
EAST REGION
Daniel Telio 428720
Brandon long 427764
Patterson and Lavoie 413159
PURE ALPHA HOLDINGS 414955
Karan Someshwar 419068
GTA REGION
Guruveer Singh Sangha 421776
David Nguyen 423565
Tripsetter Inc. 427833
Alexander Altman 414725
CGS FOODS INC 407223
Gary Hatt 416473
NORTH REGION
Anton Lucic 428024
Saturninus Partners 423124
TORONTO REGION
Heather Conlon 398788
SEYEDARASH SEYEDAMERI 425239
Colin Campbell 399836
Dana Michele Kendal 408389
Hunny Gawri 423754
WEST REGION
Steven Fry 408185
Lisa A Bigioni 412975
Ranjit basra 428461
2674253 Ontario Inc. 405886
Santino J Coppolino 411369
Christopher Comrie 425836
The Niagara Herbalist 399235
The Wedge 