North Bay awarded cannabis outlet

North Bay has its first cannabis outlet, and it could open as soon as October says the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario in a news release.

The North Bay lottery winner is Lorne J. Fine, a Toronto divorce lawyer, and the proposed store location is the Nipissing Plaza, 390 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 3.

The cannabis retail store lottery draw was held yesterday and provided those who met pre-qualification requirements for one of the 42 new store authorizations announced on July 3, an opportunity to be selected to apply for one.

Almost 5,000 eligible expressions of interest were included in the lottery draw, which was overseen by a third-party fairness monitor.

"The AGCO has notified the following 42 selected applicants that they may now apply for a cannabis Retail Operator Licence and a Retail Store Authorization," says the release. "Applicants have until August 28, 2019 to do so, at which point the AGCO will undertake its full eligibility and licensing review. The AGCO will only licence applicants and authorize stores that meet all legal and regulatory requirements."

It is anticipated that stores will begin to open starting in October, as they are ready

On July 3 the Government of Ontario announced 50 new cannabis retail store authorizations would be made available. Of these 50 new stores, the AGCO will allocate up to 42 authorizations to applicants selected by lottery and eight to stores on First Nations reserves.

Applicants who wished to participate in this lottery had to meet pre-qualification requirements, including confirmation from a bank, credit union, or caisse populaire that the applicant has the financial capacity to obtain $250,000 in cash or cash equivalents and confirmation that the applicant can obtain a Standby Letter of Credit in the amount of $50,000 within five business days of being notified of their selection; confirmation that the applicant has secured a suitable retail space, which will be available to them for operating a cannabis retail store no later than October 2019

Once the AGCO receives Retail Store Authorization applications from those selected in the lottery, residents of the community in which a store is proposed to be located will have an opportunity to provide written submissions if they believe the location of the store is not in the public interest, as defined by Ontario Regulation 468/18 made under the Cannabis Licence Act, 2018

The AGCO has placed the applicants not selected in the lottery on Wait Lists for each Region, based on the order in which they were drawn. Applicants on the Wait List will be moved to the selected list if those ahead of them are found to be ineligible for a licence/authorization or are otherwise disqualified.

Here is the North Bay waitlist, those that were selected in the lottery and the first five applicants drawn on the Wait List for this region.

SELECTED APPLICANTS AND THEIR PROPOSED STORE LOCATIONS

East Region:

GTA Region:

North Region:

Toronto Region:

West Region:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION