Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
The head of Ontario's cannabis distributor says the "race to the bottom" happening with pot prices risks hurting the market's future.
"Once you condition consumers to certain prices, it may take a generation to change perceptions and price tolerances," David Lobo, Ontario Cannabis Store president and chief executive, said in a speech at the Lift cannabis conference in Toronto on Thursday.
"In an economy where inflation has impacted every other consumer good, we can't keep pushing lower."
His remarks come as the cannabis boom that materialized in 2018, when the substance was regulated and money poured into the sector, has since dissipated. Pot companies are taking multimillion-dollar writedowns, laying off staff and rethinking their product mixes as the industry gets a better sense of consumer demand and regulatory hurdles.
All the while, the illicit market, where weed is much cheaper and sellers operate outside restrictions imposed on the legal market, has remained mighty. The OCS estimated in Ontario alone the illicit market still made up 43 per cent of the province's cannabis market last March, down from June 2020, when it held onto 75 per cent.
To stay competitive, cannabis producers have been dropping prices. Statistics Canada said a gram of legal cannabis cost $10.29 on average in 2019, whereas the OCS had some dried flower products selling for under $4 this week.
The price compression has meant prices can also be much lower in Canada than in the U.S., said David Schewede chief executive of Heritage Cannabis, which is behind the Rad and Purefarma brands.
"In Missouri, we sell the same (product) for $70 U.S. that we sell here for $31 Canadian," he said, in a session after Lobo's speech.
"It's the same product, same terpene, same supplier, same manufacturer, same secondary package and label supplier. There's a lot more money being made down there."
Lobo maintains the OCS is doing its part in fighting the race to the bottom with a plan to lower its margins this fall, which he estimates could hand $60 million to licensed pot producers next year.
However, the OCS, which distributes cannabis from producers to stores, will not require pot companies to pass along savings from the margin to drop to consumers by lowering their prices.
Canopy Growth Corp., one of Canada's largest pot producers, has said it will hold its prices.
The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company behind the Tweed, Ace Valley and 7Acres brands is not budging on its pricing because the pot market is already "highly competitive," chief executive David Klein told The Canadian Press in February.
Lobo also used his speech to warn that five years after legalization, the industry doesn't know how it would fare in some crisis times.
"We don't yet know how fragile consumer trust and social license with Canadians truly is," he said.
"What happens if we have a major recall resulting from adverse product reactions, negatively impacting the health of many Canadians?"
The integrity of the industry could be impacted by a "lapse in judgment" from a few people, he warned.
"How large of an impact can a few unfortunate events have on the moral high ground we have in positioning legal cannabis as a better alternative to illegal?
"The types of events I'm speaking of are not something I believe anyone in this industry wants to see occur and they are difficult to forecast... but the marketplace needs to be watched carefully."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2023
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.