Federal ‘Bungling’ on Pot Is Stifling Ontario Shops, Fedeli Says

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Cannabis buds sit on display during a media preview event at the HOBO Recreational Cannabis Store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, April 1, 2019. Canada's most populous province will finally open its first pot shops, nearly six months after legalization. Only 10 stores in Ontario had received the necessary licenses to open on April 1.Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg
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Ontario could allow several hundred cannabis stores to open but is being stymied by the federal government’s “bungling” of supply, according to the provincial finance minister.

More than six months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government legalized recreational pot in Canada, supply still “doesn’t line up,” Ontario’s Victor Fedeli said. That’s why Ontario has set a limit of 25 bricks and mortar stores, and outlets across the country are struggling to fill their shelves, he said.