Nova Scotia is falling behind its neighbour when comes to revealing plans for when pot is legalized, but they're assuring CTV News they will be ready to go come July 1.
New Brunswick has a name and a floor plan for when recreational marijuana becomes legalized. NB Liquor tells CTV News everything is running on time.
“We'll be open whenever it becomes federally legal, ideally sometime in July,” said Brian Harriman, CEO of NB Liquor. “Our working plan has us ready just before the middle of June, so we'll be ready to go with at least 11 stores open and home delivery in July.”
But that’s not the case in Nova Scotia. There is no name, and the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation says it will be a little while before renovations start.
The Nova Scotia government declined to speak with CTV News Friday, but a spokesperson says they are perfectly fine with the July 1 deadline.
"Preparations are well underway and Nova Scotia was on track to have a retail model in place for July,” spokesperson Andrew Preeper said. “Should there be a delay, we will use this additional time to further prepare for legalization.”
On Friday, federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said the July 1 deadline isn’t written in stone, and it could be August or September before legalization.
“We can recognize, I guess just quickly doing the math, that probably July 2018 is not going to be the date in question,” Taylor said.
Supplier Ray Gacewood says he'll gladly take the extra time.
“I think the extra two months sort of allows us more opportunity to build up inventory and allows provincial jurisdictions to take more time to focus on things like training and recruitment,” he says.
An empty building on Clyde Street in Halifax has been identified as the only location that will sell just marijuana. Many in the city are not concerned about the timing of the roll out
“I feel like it's not really going to affect anything. People are still going to smoke. They're going to smoke when it's legalized, they're going to smoke when it's delayed,” says one resident.
“I don’t think people really care one way or the other. People are going to drink whether it's illegal or not and people are going to smoke whether it's illegal or not,” says another.
The Nova Scotia government says marijuana legislation will be introduced in the upcoming session at the end of February.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.