Cannabis industry seeks change as part of profits go up in smoke under outdated tax regime: stakeholders

Switching to a flat-rate tax or a standardized excise stamp would help the industry ‘overnight,’ according to the Cannabis Council of Canada's Paul McCarthy.

Hill Times

5 years of legal cannabis: Taxes are killing the industry's buzz

Financial Post

Five year anniversary: Legal pot a tough road for business owners

CTV News

Taking Stock - 5th Anniversary of Legal Cannabis

Bloomberg

Ontario is lowering its markups on pot, as cannabis companies struggle to stay afloat

What's uncertain: will the change reduce pot prices or boost the bottom line of businesses?

CBC News

Cannabis industry disappointed by lack of tax reform in Budget 2023

The Canadian government says it will continue to monitor the evolution of the cannabis industry, but did not include any significant reforms as part of the federal government’s Budget 2023.

StratCANN

Health Canada seeks feedback on potential amendments to Cannabis Regulations

Health Canada is seeking feedback on potential amendments to the Cannabis Regulations around licensing, security measures, production and packaging and labelling requirements, and record-keeping for licence holders.

StratCANN

Trudeau says it’s time for government to “catch up” and support cannabis industry

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the need for the government to “catch up” with the cannabis industry’s concerns around issues like high taxation in a recent public event.

StratCANN

Cannabis Growers Hold a News Conference in Ottawa – February 15, 2023

On Parliament Hill, lobbyists and executives from the cannabis industry discuss the impact the recent layoffs and facility closures are having on producers across the country.

CPAC

Cannabis producers say 'crushing' taxes, fees have made legal industry 'uneconomic'

Producers want the Liberal government to eliminate a 2.3 per cent regulatory fee, which alcohol and tobacco industries don't have to pay.

National Post

'In peril': Cannabis producers say government policies snuffing them out

They say a recent wave of layoffs among cannabis producers, including the loss of 85 jobs announced this week at Calgary-based grower SNDL, are dismal omens for a sector stifled by government fees and levies that include a 37 per cent federal excise tax.

Calgary Herald

'Canadian cannabis is in peril': Industry leaders call on feds to help

Canadian cannabis business owners are calling for help from the federal government, saying high tax rates and strict rules have left their businesses struggling to survive.

CTV News

Tax and regulation combine to crush cannabis innovation and jobs

The illicit market is really the big winner when legal cannabis companies fall by the wayside with no pathway to profitability and no platform to offer innovative cannabis products to consumers.

Hill Times

Canadian cannabis producers’ unpaid tax bills soar as industry seeks reform

A growing number of Canadian cannabis businesses are failing to pay their federal excise taxes on time, a sign that companies are struggling and deferring their tax bill to meet more pressing needs – such as paying employees. Industry officials said the unpaid taxes – nearly 100 million Canadian dollars ($72.4 million) for the first half of the federal fiscal year – are “a canary in the coal mine” signalling a financial crisis for licensed cannabis producers, and they’re urging the federal government to reconsider how the excise tax is calculated.

MJBizDaily

Canada’s cannabis producers say they’re in crisis. Here’s what they’re asking the government to do

On the fourth anniversary of legalization, Canada’s cannabis producers are proclaiming a state of emergency and calling on the federal government for relief before, they say, many of their businesses are forced to go under.

Toronto Star

Cannabis industry in an “emergency crisis”, asks for moratorium on 2.3% annual regulatory fee

Cannabis industry calls on immediate regulatory reform: “This is an industry that cannot pay its own bills and cannot make ends meet.”

StratCANN

Canadian marijuana businesses pitch reform on legalization’s 4th anniversary

Marking the four-year anniversary of Canada ending marijuana prohibition, industry group Cannabis Council of Canada on Monday gathered business industry representatives to bring attention to their call for “urgent action to protect the public health, public safety, and job gains of cannabis legalization.”

MJBizDaily

Health Canada set to review Cannabis Act during fourth year of legalization

The Cannabis Council of Canada has asked that the review include a broad scope that includes the financial impacts of the Act and its regulations on the financial viability of license holders. Pierre Killeen, vice-president of the Cannabis Council of Canada, says, “We’re really looking at governments to play a bigger part in competition with the illicit market… and when we say competition with the illicit market, we’re not looking for the war on drugs 3.0, we’re talking for the ability to communicate with consumers and to give them products that they are looking for in a controlled, regulated environments.”

Global News

How is cannabis legalization going? Feds launch overdue review to find out

The federal government launched a long-awaited review on Thursday of how legalizing marijuana has affected the health of Canadians, the domestic cannabis industry and the black market. The Liberals lifted a century-long prohibition on the recreational use and sale of cannabis in October 2018, with the provision that they review the law three years after to came into force. That review is nearly one year overdue.

CTV News

Health Canada launches long-awaited review of Cannabis Act

More than 300 days past the legislated date, Ottawa has said it will begin its review of the Cannabis Act in order to assess the effects of legalization on health outcomes.

Globe and Mail