Last week Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Minister of Finance Vic Fedeli released a statement announcing that Ontario’s private retail cannabis stores will open in phases due to the nation-wide cannabis shortage. 

During the provincial government’s initial phase, up to 25 licenses will be issued so that operators can open for business on April 1, 2019. This will be implemented through a lottery system operated by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to determine who is eligible for the initial licenses to legally operate a store in the province. 

All interested parties will be able to submit an expression of interest form online to the AGCO from January 7 to January 9, 2019, which will then be put into a lottery pool for a draw. The draw will be conducted on January 11, 2019 with the results posted on the AGCO’s website within 24 hours. The process will be overseen by a third-party monitor for transparency and equality purposes. 

The province will provide more details regarding additional private retail stores once a further supply of cannabis has been secured by the federal government.

For more on this, please see below: 
Ontario Takes a Phased Approach to Cannabis Retail Licensing Due to National Supply Shortages