Growing high-value food crops in greenhouses is not a viable future in Canada anymore. That’s coming from the head of a company involved in converting greenhouse space in Delta to grow cannabis, while the city’s mayor expresses concerns about the change.

Michael DeGiglio, CEO of Village Farms, says his company continually lost money growing produce and jobs are in jeopardy without a change. So for him, it’s about survival.

He argues vegetable growers here just can’t compete with those in places like Mexico, where he points out much of our produce comes from.

Motion requires stores to buy from licensed producers even though those suppliers would be breaking the law if they did so.

Councillor Melissa De Genova is behind the motion that would require city-licensed dispensaries to buy from Health-Canada approved suppliers | Richard Lam

Directors refer draft policy back to staff for further discussions.

The Regional District of Nanaimo is establishing a policy for non-medical cannabis retail store licence applications.

When the federal government legalizes the recreational use of marijuana this summer, the regional district and other jurisdictions will be facing challenges in dealing with applications for legal sale of recreational marijuana.

When it becomes legal, the federal government will take sole responsibility on regulating the production of non-medical marijuana. In British Columbia, the wholesale distribution of recreational marijuana will be be processed only through the Liquor Distribution Board.

"The majority, if not all, retail stores licensed by the City of Vancouver MMRU [Medical Marijuana Related Use], as well as those open without a license, do not obtain their supply from licensed producers regulated by Health Canada," reads the motion on notice posted on the agenda for the next city council meeting (May 15).

"Currently police information checks are required for the applicant and all staff (including directors and health professionals); however there is no requirement for the applicant to conduct police information checks for suppliers and/or growers," it continues.

It goes on to mention recent robberies at Vancouver dispensaries, and warns councillors of the participation of "organized crime and/or gangs" in the city's pot shops. 

Some time this summer, marijuana will be legal in Canada.

It's already legal in Washington state and has been for four years.

But Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth warned this week that there's a significant problem looming at the border crossing, because it's still going to be illegal there.

It makes no sense whatsoever, but the U.S. federal government controls the border crossing, and marijuana is still nominally illegal in the U.S. federally.

"People (meaning, cannabis users) are going to naturally assume, on either side of the border, that they cross back and forth because it's legal in each jurisdiction," he told the house. "But the reality is it will not be legal at that federal border crossing."

Baby boomers expected to drive sales as they switch to cannabis from other medications.

Cannabis-sector CEOs are bullish about the prospect for sales once Canada legalizes marijuana and say that the market will soar far above many estimates.

At the Arcview Group’s cannabis investment conference on May 2, the CEOs of three Canadian cannabis companies were united in predicting the legal cannabis market in Canada will fast outpace expectations.

A recent New Frontier Data report pinned the domestic cannabis market in Canada at $9.2 billion by 2025, sustained by higher average medical consumption. More conservative estimates pin federal sales at $4.5 billion by 2027.

The race is on among Canada's cannabis growers. In less than a month, Canada's Senate will vote on bill C-45, which is more commonly known as the Cannabis Act. If approved, it would legalize recreational marijuana throughout Canada, making our neighbor to the north the first developed country in the world to OK the sale of adult-use cannabis. It would also open the door to billions in annual revenue for growers and the ancillary pot industry.

Snoop Dogg will have a connection with the cannabis business in Delta.

Well known for his love of herb, the rapper through his co-founded venture capital firm Casa Verde Capital invests in the cannabis industry, having signed a partnership deal a couple of years ago with Tweed Inc. and parent company Canopy Growth. The deal gives the Ontario-based marijuana producer, already the largest supplier of legal medical marijuana in Canada, exclusive rights to use certain content and brands owned by the rapper’s company LBC Holdings, including the Leafs By Snoop cannabis brand which has several strains.

Once burned by a “bong” mascot, Esquimalt council plans to be firmly in the driver’s seat when it comes to cannabis retailers

Esquimalt councillors have approved a new zoning bylaw that prohibits the retail sale of cannabis and cannabis lounges in any location in the township unless specifically rezoned to allow such use.

This effectively means that any cannabis dispensary wanting to locate in the township will have to go through a rezoning process.

“In my mind it helps us to, one, be very careful and controlled in terms what comes to us and where it will be situated,” said Mayor Barb Desjardins. “But also, in a rezoning you can talk to them about what are they going to provide for the community.

“This is a ‘nobody loses’ situation.”

Give it a few years, but British Columbia might see a tax windfall of over $110 million per year from the sale of legal cannabis, if its experience is anything like Washington State.

“When you’re three or four years into your market and pretty well established, I believe that’s within possibility,” said James MacRae, an industry consultant with the firm Straight Lines Analytics. 

The figure MacRae calculated is $112 million, based on B.C. being about two-thirds the size of Washington State’s market and using a basic description of Canada’s tax regime.