Last month, Ontario’s third largest city overturned its ban on cannabis retail stores. Now, the first retail store license applications for the City of Mississauga are rolling in.
Nine Applications In Progress
As of May 10, there were nine applications for cannabis stores in Mississauga:
- Pop’s Cannabis Co., 960 Southdown Road: in public notice period until May 16
- Pop’s Cannabis Co., 1125 Bloor Street East: in public notice period until May 21
- Flowertown Cannabis, 2425 Truscott Drive: in public notice period until May 17
- Purple Tree Cannabis, 1077 North Service Road: in public notice period until May 23
- The Woods Cannabis, 3145 Dundas Street West: in progress
- Canna Cabana, 1891 Rathburn Road East: in progress
- Canna Cabana, 7070 Saint Barbara Boulevard: in progress
- Crown Leaf, 3355 Hurontario Street: in progress
- Moonwalker Cannabis, 3515 Odyssey Drive: in progress
Following the public notice period, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) will provide the applicant with copies of any submissions received within 10 business days after the submission deadline. Applicants have five days to provide the AGCO with response to submissions from local residents and the municipality.
From there, the applicant is assigned an AGCO inspector for an education session and pre-authorization inspection before the application can be approved.
Displacing the Illegal Market
The decision to permit cannabis stores came after a city report highlighted that Mississauga residents were “disproportionately” served by the illegal market in the absence of legal stores. Illicit cannabis stores have spread in Mississauga and the city is unable to effectively shut them down. Mississauga residents were forced to buy cannabis online in neighbouring cities or illegally in the city.
“Mississauga has been cautious and examined the experience of other cities over the past five years before opting into retail cannabis stores,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie in a statement. “While we wish cities had more control in terms of locations and licensing, the experience of other cities that have opted in has generally been positive and without major issues. We welcome the opportunity for residents to be able to more easily and conveniently access legal cannabis at retailers, and the businesses and jobs it will create in our city.”
Ontario Store Count
There are currently 1711 cannabis retail stores authorized to open in Ontario, with an additional 72 applications in progress, and 171 in public notice period.
The number of stores has levelled out in recent months, with some in industry suggesting the number of stores has peaked in Ontario and others questioning if parts of the province have reached their saturation point.
Among cities with a population of more than 50,000, the following are still opted out of Ontario’s legal cannabis store regulatory regime: Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Whitby, Newmarket, and Caledon.