Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
While Canadians have endured months of rising prices for staples such as food and gas, one product consumers may have noticed little change in is retail cannabis.
Figures from Statistics Canada show that the consumer price index (CPI) for alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis rose 3.5 per cent in August compared to the same month in 2021, which is lower when compared to other items monitored by the federal agency.
But on its own, the CPI for recreational cannabis has seen year-over-year declines through to August 2022, falling as much as 10.3 per cent in May.
George Smitherman, president and CEO of the Cannabis Council of Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday that this deflation in price reflects an "intense competitive environment," which is translating into weak bottom lines for those in the regulated industry.
"Sadly, it's not financially sustainable," Smitherman said.
The cannabis analytics firm Headset noted this trend back in February in the United States.
More recently in August, The Canadian Press pointed to competition between retail stores as a driver behind low prices for consumers.
"In fact, the last thing you want to do is to increase prices because the black market has adjusted very, very aggressively and cannabis on the black market is cheaper," Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Monday.
But Smitherman said this is also happening at the expense of producers, whose margins are becoming thinner under the current system.
A report from the firm Ernst and Young, commissioned by the Cannabis Council of Canada, found that licensed producers in Ontario saw their share of sales revenue fall to 60.8 per cent in April 2022 from 74.2 per cent in July 2019. Over that same period, the share going to the federal and Ontario governments through excise duties rose to 37.6 per cent from 23.9 per cent.
The industry also has not been immune to supply chain issues, Smitherman said.
A cyberattack in August on a logistics partner for the Ontario Cannabis Store affected orders from retailers, while a labour dispute involving public sector workers in B.C. stopped the province's cannabis distribution centre from shipping product.
Smitherman said the examples in Ontario and B.C. show how much distribution has been monopolized, adding that suppliers are absorbing the increased costs from supply chain disruptions.
Despite the concentration of cannabis stores in certain communities, access to cannabis is not the same everywhere and in some cases, communities have chosen to opt out of the retail market.
And Smitherman said the illicit market is still being propped up by retail and online stores operating illegally. The federal government is in the process of reviewing the legalization of cannabis in Canada.
"If we don't bring more people over from the illicit market, we've failed the public health objectives of legalization," Smitherman said.
With files from CTVNews.ca Writer Natasha O'Neill, The Canadian Press and CNN
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Hours before the final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was dramatically booted out by organizers over a backstage incident. He had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union said it was investigating an "incident."
From London, to Grand Bend, Collingwood and Guelph, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.