Luck of the draw could leave Ottawa with zero pot shops

It's the first day cannabis retailers can throw their names in a lottery for one of 25 licences to open a pot shop in the province, but the pull-from-the-hatapproach could leave Ottawa without a single storefront.

Cannabis has been legal since Oct. 17, but so far, Ontario consumers have only been able to buy the product online.

Only 25 licences will be issuedby Apr. 1 to the first wave of private retailers, with a lottery system determining the winners.

According to a local public affairs consultant, that's not the bestway to combat black market cannabis sales especially if Ottawa ends up without any legal outlets.

"A lottery system means there are winners and losers based on an arbitrary draw," said Ivan Ross Vrna of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, who works with several cannabis companies.

Applications should instead be evaluated based on their merit,Vrna said, and where demand is highest.

Would-be retailers pray for pot lottery win

6 years ago

Duration 0:47

Rebecca Trueman, who's hoping to open a cannabis shop in Carp, shared her reaction to the province's sudden decision last month to award licenses by lottery.

Only 5 shops in all of Eastern Ontario

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario will hold the lotteryJan. 11 and publish the results within 24 hours.

The 25 licences will be split up among these regions of the province:

• Eastern Ontario, including Ottawa, will have five stores.
• Toronto will have six stores.
• The Greater Toronto Area will have five stores.
• The rest of southern Ontario, outsideToronto and the GTA, will have seven stores.
• Northern Ontario will have two stores.

Ottawa could end up with all or none of the five stores in eastern Ontario.Leaving itup to chance isn't the way to make sure the stores are successful, Vrna said.

"Even if Ottawa gets one of the stores, it's not going to satisfy demand," he said, comparing the five licences for all of eastern Ontario to the dozens of LCBO stores in Ottawa alone.

No stores inGatineau, either

Caroline Mulroney, Ontario's attorney general,and Finance Minister Vic Fedeliboth cited "national supply shortages" as the reason for restricting the number of licences last month.

Vrna acknowledgedthe government wants to move quickly, but said the lottery system isn'tthe best way to suppressthebooming black market.

"The best way to do that is to allow consumers to easily access this product," he said.

If Ottawa ends up a pot desert, local cannabis consumerswon't be able to hop across the river to buy the drug, either.

The Crown corporation in charge of selling recreational cannabis in Quebec has put a hold on any new cannabis stores while the provincial government revisits its cannabis legislation.