Alert: Canada – Acknowledgement without Action Federal budget falls short, but the cannabis industry has a new opportunity to shape Health Canada regulations

April 14, 2023

News out of Ottawa since we last spoke sadly has not been too good. The Federal Budget came and went with some thoughtful commentary about the financial challenges our industry faces, yet no meaningful action to address it. In the meantime a spate of layoffs continues and amongst the casualties were two of only a handful of cannabis lobbyists employed in Canada.
Our quest to get action commensurate to our economic and social impact goes on and as always we are talking strength in numbers and spreading our wings. The C3 Board has approved approaches to expand our membership offerings to improve our overall impact.
Recently the Federal Government launched a 60 Day Consultation on unburdening regulation related to the Cannabis Act. We are using this as an opportunity to Listen, Learn and Act on an aligned basis with more in our sector. To aid that we are leveraging the deep talent pool at C3 to lead 4 Information gathering sessions beginning April 28. The date for submissions is May 24, 2023 so please join in or spread the word.
With April 20 just around the corner I pause to celebrate the champions of cannabis. I salute Jim Wakeford, an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana at a time when people in my community were dropping from the rigours of AIDS. I saw cannabis as a medicine first hand on Church Street in Toronto and never stopped believing.Yours in cannabis.
George Smitherman