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Winnipeg Free Press
22-07-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Local cannabis growers decry ‘unfair landscape'
Growing cannabis commercially is a venture Cynthia Fortin dove into with her husband after the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years into selling, she's frustrated — and she's formed a fledgling association calling for government action. '(It's an) unfair landscape,' said Fortin, president of the three-month-old Manitoba Cannabis Growers Association. Her Steinbach-based company, 410 Farms, is one of three businesses involved in the MCGA. The association has issued a list of requests, including policy changes and consultation meetings with provincial leadership. 'Manitoba cannabis growers are struggling,' Fortin said. 'It is incredibly tough to get a foot in the door, even into the smaller retailers — never mind the big chains that have their own brands.' Canada legalized cannabis in 2018. Since then, the commercial industry has ballooned: Manitoba counts at least 230 shops; 73 opened between April 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025. The province doesn't cap how many licences it issues to weed stores. As a result, competitors have sprouted close to one another. For example, three shops are within 600 metres of each other along Roblin Boulevard in Winnipeg. Generally, shops are seeking the cheapest products, which makes pricing extra competitive on the growers' side, Fortin and her husband Bob relayed. Roughly 30 retailers carry 410 Farms products. The business makes about 13 different items and harvests between 1,800 and 2,200 plants. Bigger entities can manufacture for a cheaper price per good, Bob Fortin asserted. 'We just can't compete, because our products are a little more craft,' he said. 'We don't do the same volume as they do.' In its list, the association underscored a desire for changes to product labelling, government procurement policies and local taxes. Highlighting Manitoba-grown cannabis — to both retailers and end customers — could generate interest, especially given a politically-charged 'buy local' movement, Cynthia Fortin said. It's already being done in Ontario for local growers, noted Jesse Lavoie, founder of TobaGrown. He oversees 1,000 plants in Manitoba. 'We would love the opportunity to put a 'Grown in Manitoba' badge on that product,' said Lavoie, who isn't part of the Manitoba Cannabis Growers Association. Twelve of more than 150 current cannabis suppliers are identified as Manitoban to retailers, per Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp., the entity that wholesales cannabis in the province. Twenty-four businesses are licensed and can act as cannabis suppliers in Manitoba, but some aren't actively in operation. Local suppliers' products account for roughly 20 per cent of catalogue listings, an MLL spokesperson wrote in a statement. 'In the last year, all but two of 233 local cannabis retailers ordered products from Manitoba suppliers,' the spokesperson continued, adding local products were in more than 99 per cent of Manitoba cannabis retailers. But allowing companies who grow outside Manitoba to sell in the province without limit is hindering local growers' success, as is banning growers' sales online, Cynthia Fortin argued. The association is calling for a repeal of MLL's 11 per cent markup on wholesale cannabis. Growers also pay a federal excise tax of $1 per gram. The Fortins said they've sent a formal request to speak to members of the provincial government. 'I would be happy to meet with members of the MCGA and listen to their concerns,' Glen Simard, minister responsible for MLL, wrote in a statement. Simard said he's 'grateful' for the feedback and encourages the association to 'cultivate relationships with retailers, promote the value of their products, and create the inventory necessary to establish a regular presence in Manitoba cannabis stores.' Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries saw $153.6 million in cannabis operation revenue last year, its latest annual report shows. To sell online, growers would need a retailer licence issued by the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba, an MLL spokesperson wrote. The wholesale cannabis markup — which is on the 'low end' of the rate across Canada — is made available to Manitoba-based suppliers' peers in other provinces, the spokesperson continued. The cash is funnelled into social responsibility and law enforcement programs. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
AFP
28-04-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Elections Canada refutes 'inaccurate' video claimed to show ballots mishandled
"I Caught Elections Workers Taking VOTES HOME," says the title on an April 27, 2025 video on YouTube. Image Screenshot from YouTube taken April 28, 2025 The nearly 30-minute video from "MCGA," a conservative channel that boasts more than 53,000 subscribers and appears to reference US President Donald Trump's " " slogan, racked up over 145,000 views as Canadians voted April 28. A cord 7.3 million people cast ballots during , in a race that has come down to Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals and Pierre Poilievre's The clip opens with the channel's owner, who introduces himself as Spencer, claiming that he was outside an elections office in Hamilton, Ontario on April 25 when he "observed five people leaving the office with ballot boxes." Spencer filmed them loading up their cars and continued recording as he followed one of them home and confronted him. "Not only is there no secure chain of custody, but again, the ballots are filled out with pencil," Spencer says, alluding to misleading online claims that ballots are at risk of being changed or erased because polling places are mandated to provide pencils (). also includes a separate recording in which he spoke over the phone with several employees of Elections Canada, one of whom explained the procedures and safeguards for handling ballot boxes that have been sealed with votes cast before election day. Across platforms such as Facebook, and X, users shared the recording taken outside the elections office alongside claims it showed fraud or malfeasance. "MCGA busted Election Canada workers taking home ballot boxes again in violation to the chain of custody rules," one says. Image Screenshot from Instagram taken April 28, 2025 "This is proof the election is rigged and the Liberals are behind the fraud," another post on Facebook claims. "Any voter box can be replaced with another box, and so can the election ballots, as voter cards are marked only in pencil." But the video does not show election workers mishandling Canadians' votes, Elections Canada said. Boxes did not contain filled-out ballots In an April 28 thread on X addressing the MCGA video, the agency cautioned viewers not to "believe everything you see." "There is a video being shared online, along with some inaccurate information," Elections Canada wrote (archived here). "The ballot boxes in the video are not full of marked ballots; they contain the materials needed to set up the polls for election day." There is a video being shared online, along with some inaccurate information. The ballot boxes in the video are not full of marked ballots; they contain the materials needed to set up the polls for election day. (1/2) — Elections Canada (@ElectionsCan_E) April 28, 2025 The thread explained that officials "use empty ballot boxes to transport the materials needed to set up the polls on election day" and that "ballot boxes that contain marked ballots are properly secured with an official seal that is signed by election workers, in front of witnesses" (archived here and here). The agency replied with similar clarifications to several users who asked about the video -- and also in response to the MCGA channel's X account (archived here, here, here and here). Elections Canada told AFP in an April 28 email that the supplies required to prepare polling locations for election day include signage, feedback forms and activity logs. The agency said deputy returning officers or central poll supervisors pick these materials up ahead of time from the local elections office, where such materials are held. "They bring it home if they do not have access to the polling ahead of time, since some polling places are only leased for one day," the agency told AFP. "The empty ballot boxes can be used to transport the materials." In the extended footage on the MCGA channel, the person Spencer followed home and questioned said of the box: "It's empty." Ballot box safeguards Ballot boxes that do contain votes from advance polling locations are protected by multiple safeguards until results are tallied on election day, Elections Canada told AFP. The "ElectoFacts" page on the agency's website says that after each day of advance polls, the deputy returning officer, or DRO, seals the ballot box slot and signs the seal alongside any party or candidate representatives present to prevent tampering (archived here). The sides of each box are also sealed. The boxes must remain sealed and in secure locations at all times, and the handover of boxes must always be logged, the website says. "In between advance polls and the counting of the ballots on election day, ballot boxes are either kept in a secure place at the returning office or kept in the custody of the DRO," it adds. Destroying or otherwise interfering with a ballot box or its enclosed votes is illegal under the Canada Elections Act. ate federal election laws may face fines and even jail time (archived here). "Election officials pledge an oath that they will not tamper with election materials or cast votes, and they sign an official record log at the local Elections Canada office when they receive the unmarked ballot booklets," Elections Canada said in its email. AFP has debunked other misinformation about Canada's elections here.
