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By B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson

Sound OFF

SOUND OFF: Why can’t John Horgan’s government make money selling pot?

Jan 23, 2020 | 4:07 PM

BRITISH COLUMBIA HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN around the world for “BC Bud” and a sizable cannabis industry – so how did the NDP manage to screw it up so badly when it was legalized? Only John Horgan and the NDP could fail to figure out how to sell pot in British Columbia.

In the run up to cannabis legalization in Canada, everyone looked at our province with eager anticipation of profits and opportunity. Then came the harsh reality of the NDP’s fumbled cannabis roll-out: B.C. sold less legal cannabis than any other province in the country except for Prince Edward Island. What should have been a boon to British Columbia, with profits funding new hospitals and classrooms, has instead been a total failure. The NDP missed their marijuana sales prediction by $48.5 million. So how did John Horgan manage to bungle this so badly?

The NDP had over a year to prepare for the legalization of cannabis in October of 2018. Instead of using that time to allow small business and entrepreneurs to figure out this brand new opportunity – which has shown great results in Colorado and Washington — the NDP decided to push government outlets to benefit their union friends and insiders. Private retail cannabis operators across the province have been bleeding money for leases and other costs for over a year now waiting on government approvals to open their doors. These small businesses, trying to get a foot in the door of what should be a burgeoning industry, are starving in the middle of an active black market while John Horgan and the NDP put government-run and union-staffed BC Cannabis Stores wherever they want to, even in communities that have long since had municipally-approved retail locations.

John Horgan and the NDP have created uncertainty and financial hardships for small businesses while doing nothing to diminish black market sales. In 2018, our province brought in just $1.5 million in cannabis revenue while Washington State collected over $367 million in legal cannabis income. British Columbians are still buying marijuana, they just aren’t buying it through the limited government options. The NDP’s cannabis roll-out has been a boon for the black market and a complete bust for B.C. residents hoping for greater revenue and countless small business owners hoping to support their families.

That lack of licensed retail stores means more illegally grown and illegally sold cannabis is in our communities. The benefits of legalization, seen in many other jurisdictions, should be a decrease in black market sales, government health regulations ensuring quality control, and tax revenues helping fund important government services like healthcare and education. But the NDP dropped the ball, so we haven’t seen those benefits because John Horgan and the NDP approached legalization with an outdated and heavy-handed government-knows-best approach.

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In 2020, John Horgan and the NDP need to admit their strategy on the legal cannabis roll-out has failed. Let’s take a look at best practices in other provinces as well as the American states that have had several years of experience to iron out the issues with legalization and licensing. Let’s clear up the bureaucratic bottleneck and get private retail approvals done so that small businesses can succeed and take advantage of a growing market, so that tax revenues increase to fund vital services for British Columbians, and so that proceeds no longer benefit criminals or allow potentially unsafe and unregulated cannabis to be consumed by anyone in our province.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.