Pat Warnecke didn’t hold out much hope he would be selected in the Saskatchewan government’s cannabis retail licence process.

“Nowhere in the RFP (request for proposals) did I ever see that if you had anything to do with the cannabis industry before, or if you had anything to do with a dispensary, that you’re not eligible for the system or not eligible to apply,” said Warnecke, owner of Best Buds Society, which operated cannabis dispensaries in Regina and Saskatoon.

“It doesn’t look like anybody who was part of any dispensary got into any of these here.”

Warnecke believes the government has done the province a disservice by driving away cannabis industry leaders.

Someone new to the industry will not know the difference between good and bad cannabis, he said.

Further, he said 12 people related to his business are planning to leave Saskatchewan.

“They had an opportunity to keep the entrepreneurs here in the province and they kicked us to the curb,” said Warnecke, who submitted 21 applications between himself and his business partners.

Warnecke isn’t the only person with complaints about the process.

Another Regina-based applicant takes issue, although prefers to keep his name off the record.

“I don’t want to raise too big a stink, because I firmly believe that in six months they’re going to say, ‘OK, we misjudged this and we need another six dispensaries (in Regina).’”

He believes the six licences won’t be enough to serve a city where more than a dozen dispensaries have been operating.

However, his bigger concern is that several companies won licences in more than one jurisdiction.

Fifty-one licences were available in 32 locations, with 1,327 applicants in the running.

Rather than see the same company chosen to run several stores, he would have preferred a limit of one licence per applicant in “this very rarefied first round of dispensary licences.”

“That would have been a logical, I believe a fair way to do this, when this is something that is (a) first-time opportunity,” he said.

Greg Paul was hoping he would be one of those lucky lottery winners.

The Toronto-area resident said he applied for a Saskatchewan cannabis licence because “it seemed like the SLGA (Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority) was tailoring towards promoting small businesses and giving the smaller guys a chance.”

The Ontario government determined it will operate cannabis retail outlets in that province.

“Saskatchewan was offering, throwing it up in the air to anybody who had the time and money to put forward, so we jumped on the train and took our chance,” said Paul, who applied for licences in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert and planned to move to Saskatchewan to run a store.

“It gets cold, I don’t like the cold, but business is business,” said Paul. “If an opportunity came for yourself to move somewhere and you could have your own business and it does well, I don’t think anybody would pass up that offer.”

That’s what Warnecke plans to do — move to where the work is.

As a craft cannabis consultant across Western Canada, he plans to help First Nations set up their on-reserve cannabis industry.

He is hopeful three applications in the Alberta licensing process will prove successful and he’ll have new stores to operate.

“We will move to where the work is for cannabis,” said Warnecke.

An Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission representative said no licences have been issued yet, however some applicants are “completing the due diligence portion” of their application. Next, they will be inspected and municipalities will issue a business licence.