The Gallant government sees the imminent federal legalization of marijuana this summer as an ‘economic growth opportunity’ for the province.
“We believe in New Brunswick with our cost competitive advantage we can incentivize and encourage businesses to invest capital, to build the big buildings they’re going to need for production and to hire people in New Brunswick to produce cannabis,” says Gallant.
“It’s a part of our multi-year economic growth plan that we seize that opportunity which is job creation and investment when it comes to production.”
Gallant says money-making isn’t part of their goal when it comes to selling legal pot.
“We have always advocated that the cost that would be generated by the legalization of cannabis by the federal government should be covered by the excise tax,” says Gallant.
“We want to offset the costs of the legalization of cannabis by the federal government — it’s not to make money.”
In December, federal finance minister Bill Morneau announced the government will give the provinces 75% of tax revenues from legalized cannabis — a much higher figure than the originally proposed 50-50 split.
New Brunswick plans to sell legal pot through a subsidiary of NB Liquor called Cannabis NB which will have stand-alone stores. 11 locations have been announced so far.
Gallant also says this is without a doubt a major policy shift and acknowledges there are going to be hiccups and twists and turns when pot becomes legal.
