Some changes are tiny and bureaucratic. Others will fundamentally change the country.

The federal and provincial governments have announced numerous new rules for 2019. Most federal, provincial and territorial laws come into force immediately after their passage and assent.

But legislation requiring greater planning or notice is typically delayed to allow affected parties time to prepare. Here are 49 new laws that come into effect across Canada in 2019. They range from the arrival of a federal carbon-tax plan to a fee for plastic bags in Prince Edward Island.

2018 was a watershed year in the battle for marijuana policy reform. At both the state and federal level, advocates scored numerous victories, and gained significant momentum for further reforms in the year to come. Here is a look back at some of the more significant events that shaped cannabis policy in 2018.

In 2018, the world watched as Canada became the first Western country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana – and all the challenges that came with it.

Today, a lack of supply at the city’s only downtown pot shop is leaving some customers with a bad taste about how legalization has been rolled out so far. 

While lineups outside the SQDC outlet on Saint-Catherine Street has decreased pretty dramatically between October and December, but one problem facing the only pot shop downtown remains: a lack of stock.

“It’s pretty empty at the moment,” said one customer leaving the shop. “I feel like you have to come at a specific time to get something.”

Recently released, the much-anticipated rules on three new classes of cannabis – edibles, concentrates and topicals – impose restrictions on packaging, require strict controls on manufacturing and limit the amount of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, allowed in each dose.

A two-month public consultation period is now open before edibles are legalized by October, Health Canada said.

Shirley Toms of Cannabis Compliance Inc., a consulting firm, called the fall timeline doable, noting it’s unlikely to get pushed back as was the legalization of recreational marijuana use, first promised by the federal Liberal by July 1, but delayed until Oct. 17.

Recreational marijuana has been legal in Canada for more than two months, but some companies have been in limbo as regulations remain to be put in place for cannabis edibles, topicals, and extracts.

Health Canada has now released a first draft proposal of regulations for those products, which may have a large impact not just on retail store sales but also on the ability to consume marijuana in public locations.

"I've never seen this before."

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, sitting in his legislature office for a year-end interview, is looking at a 15-ml container of cannabis spray. It's one of the ways through which recreational cannabis can be consumed since legalization in October.

It is discreet, quick, smokeless and — perhaps surprisingly under Manitoba law — legal to consume in most public places.

"My lunch could be really good," Pallister jokes before handing it back to the reporter who brought it to him.

The premier has said on more than one occasion he's more of a beer man.

Pallister's Progressive Conservative government is not alone in having to adjust to the complex realities of legalized recreational cannabis.

Health Canada has released draft regulations for cannabis edibles and extracts, which include strict limits on dosage and ingredients.

For edibles, Health Canada is proposing plain child-resistant packaging, restricting the ingredients that can be used and limiting the edible to 10 milligrams of THC per package, which is largely considered the typical amount for a single dose. Additionally, regular food and edible cannabis products must not be produced in the same facility.

Manitoba regulators have seized all cannabis products provided by a Winnipeg-based company that were shipped to licenced retail stores.

The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Corporation say the sale of all cannabis products produced by Bonify are suspended over quality-control issues.

Premier Brian Pallister says he believes illegal cannabis entered the legal distribution system.

He says Health Canada was notified more than a week ago, but the province was only told Tuesday, and heard from the company, not the federal government.

Pallister says it's unacceptable that his government was not notified earlier, and customers need to know that what they are buying is approved and licenced.

But how about candies called “chewables”? Or tarts, tablets and mints?

They may all be similar, but the formats and names could be key to what is acceptable to federal regulators.

What confections will be allowed is one of the biggest question marks as Canada awaits regulations from Health Canada on cannabis “edibles” and concentrated products, says Chuck Rifici, an Ottawa cannabis entrepreneur.

Rifici’s Auxly Cannabis Group, like others in the industry, is preparing to produce a range of products while waiting to see what will be allowed.

Canada’s Prime Minister says legal pot supply issues to be sorted out in months

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a supply shortage of legal cannabis in Canada and the prime minister is on the case. While noting the dearth of legal weed in Canada “will take a little time to adjust,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blames the delays on municipal governments and others who have been more critical on pot legalization. Expect some relief in the coming months but Trudeau is quick to point out the industry is on the right track to get legal pot into Canadians’ hands as swiftly as possible.