The business group warns that the decline in the supply of cannabis at the retail level has led consumers to return to the illicit market. Privately owned stores, which must buy their shares in the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Division (BCLDB), say they have run out of supply and have no other option but to temporarily close and fire their workers. CEO Cory Waldron had to lay off 17 workers - 90 percent of the staff - at his two stores in Nanaimo on Thursday because they weren't receiving deliveries from the BCLDB. Waldron said he knows of at least 40 stores that have already closed and believes that number could double by the end of Friday. Retail liquor and cannabis stores are not part of the labor action, but the cannabis division of the Burnaby customer service center is.
The union resumed negotiations earlier this week, but no agreement has yet been reached. The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BCGEU spokeswoman Jasleen Arora declined to discuss the matter. If labor action continues, 70 percent of legal marijuana retailers in the province will have closed their doors in August. It's likely that 30 percent of them won't reopen once the labor action is resolved, he added in an email.
His organization has been urging the province to declare the delivery of cannabis an essential service or to allow marijuana stores to buy shares from outside the province during labor action. Waldron has already heard of illicit sellers who target privately owned stores and hand out business cards to customers they feel they can attract during the labor demand. He fears that some stores will find it difficult to win back those customers when deliveries return. Cassandra Wardrop, operations manager at Flora Cannabis, has similar concerns because many of the brand's stores are located a short drive from indigenous retailers, whose supply is not affected. Flora, which has six locations, has already had to temporarily lay off 30 people due to lack of supply. Stores will continue to operate with managers managing them, but hours will be reduced and even then, some stores only have a week or less of stock left, Wardrop said.
For the sake of business and customers, expect deliveries to resume soon. It seems that a photographer from Calgary, a prisoner in the Dominican Republic for the past eight months, is finally heading home. A second suspect has been charged in connection with the summer death of Shawn McCormack. Four people were injured and sent to hospital after a shooting near the Collège Montmorency in Laval, police say. Some daycare owners are concerned about the latest COVID-19 recommendations issued by the Montreal Department of Public Health (DSP). It was only this week that they learned that children with COVID-19 can still attend daycare as long as they don't have a fever.
The guide aligns with current recommendations for the general public, as described last week by Dr. Luc Boileau, the province's public health director, but some are surprised that it applies to young children in daycare centers. Police say a 19-year-old man is facing charges after he was arrested Friday wearing a bulletproof vest at a university south of Montreal. The CEGEP in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu was quickly closed after police received a 911 call from a man.
