As some readers may know, at the direction of the Ontario
government, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario
(“AGCO”) is limiting, to five, the number of cannabis
retail stores that are permitted to open in Ontario in any single
week. This limit applies whether or not a greater number of stores
have been inspected by AGCO and are otherwise ready to open.
The industry's initial understanding, based on provincial
government and AGCO announcements, was that the AGCO's target
of five Retail Store Authorizations per week, or 20 per month, was
a minimum goal for store openings, not a hard cap. Though the AGCO
will not confirm, it has been suggested that the current cap is a
consequence of Ontario Cannabis Store challenges in procuring
sufficient cannabis from federal licensed producers to meet the
demand of new retail store operators.
