Give it a few years, but British Columbia might see a tax windfall of over $110 million per year from the sale of legal cannabis, if its experience is anything like Washington State.

“When you’re three or four years into your market and pretty well established, I believe that’s within possibility,” said James MacRae, an industry consultant with the firm Straight Lines Analytics. 

The figure MacRae calculated is $112 million, based on B.C. being about two-thirds the size of Washington State’s market and using a basic description of Canada’s tax regime.

With the impending legalization of marijuana and a rise in the number of people using medical marijuana to treat any number of ailments, employers are increasingly concerned about how they will be able to manage or control marijuana use at work. The recent decision of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Aitchison v. L & L Painting and Decorating Ltd. demonstrates that employees do not have unfettered rights when it comes to using medical marijuana in the workplace.

Canada’s rapidly growing cannabis industry now dominates the global trade in legal marijuana, says a report from a Washington, D. C., data analytics firm.

The companies that are frantically building growing facilities to supply Canadians with marijuana are also in a unique position to sell their products and expertise around the world, says the report from New Frontier Data. The independent research firm’s report provides a snapshot of Canada’s cannabis industry.

Canadian cannabis companies are exporting their products to countries on multiple continents, the report notes.

“Canadian (companies) are allowed to export abroad, making them some of the first companies in the world to sign international cannabis trade deals,” says the report.

Under a clouded sky that threatens rain, cyclists, moms pushing strollers and riders on horseback traverse the gravel path that meets the end of Lochside Drive in Central Saanich.

The path looks onto a green pastoral land that rolls out like a carpet, a blank canvas of protected agricultural land.

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Developer turned potpreneur Shawn Galbraith looks at the 36-acre parcel and sees unlimited potential for growing Canada’s next cash crop: cannabis.

His vision is to develop the Stanhope Dairy Farm into 21 glass-and-metal, high-security greenhouses that could bring jobs and a windfall of taxes for the District of Central Saanich.

In less than a month, Canada's Senate will be making a game-changing decision that'll impact the legal cannabis industry. At stake is bill C-45, which is better known as the Cannabis Act. If approved by Canada's federal government, it would make our neighbor to the north the very first developed country in the world to have legalized adult-use marijuana. In the process, it'll also be opening the door to billions of dollars in added annual sales.

Those looking to set up a retail cannabis store in Red Deer County will first have to go through the municipal planning commission.

Council approved bylaw changes on Tuesday to help ensure Red Deer County is ready once marijuana becomes legal.

“This is all brand new to Red Deer County. It’s not legal yet in Canada, but we’re trying to be ready,” said Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood.

Cannabis retail operations in Red Deer County will be considered discretionary under the newly-passed regulations, therefore MPC approval is required. Wood says this means the public will get their say before an operator sets up shop.

It raises the question yet again: why did the Liberals give themselves the artificial deadline of Canada Day to pass the pot bill?

You want it when? The Senate tends to move with the urgency of Flash the Sloth in Disney’s Zootopia.

The upshot is that there are growing concerns in government about the Red Chamber meeting Justin Trudeau’s summer deadline on legalizing marijuana, as well as passing the accompanying impaired driving bill.

At least the main cannabis bill — C-45 — goes to a vote in the Senate on June 7. That would give the House two weeks before the summer break to deal with any amendments.

But the drug impaired driving bill — C-46 — is still before the Senate’s legal affairs committee, which is drawing up a draft report.

A new report offers Agricultural Land Reserve parcels as a welcome alternative to marijuana production on in-demand industrial land.

Commercial real estate in Vancouver will see unprecedented demand with the legalization of recreational marijuana this summer, presenting a lucrative opportunity for Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) owners and a money-savvy alternative for producers.  

A new Colliers International report, Cannabis & ALR - Keep the Land, states recreational cannabis sales in Canada are expected to fetch up to $8.7 million in their first year and will continue to drive up demand for Vancouver industrial land. 

While marijuana stocks may be considered a contentious sector to invest in to some investors, this is a sector that could be quite profitable for long-term investors. If recreational cannabis is soon legalized, many marijuana companies are positioned to potentially experience explosive earnings growth in the years ahead.

Three marijuana stocks are now included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index, and that number may continue to grow.

Given the growing presence and leadership of these stocks, I recently spoke with Vahan Ajamian, an analyst who currently covers eight marijuana equities at Beacon Securities Ltd. Here are excerpts from our conversation, with an expanded version available online at tgam.ca/inside the market.

A Kamloops lawyer has expressed alarm following Monday's pot shop bust on Hillside Drive.

The Canna Clinic was shut down and two employees arrested after RCMP said the shop had been operating illegally within the City of Kamloops.

"I'm quite alarmed. So, when you read the news release from the RCMP, they're basically justifying this, saying, 'Well, these guys are blatantly breaking the law because they are failing to follow the Kamloops bylaw,'" says Shawn Buckley, principal lawyer with Buckley and Company. "Well, Kamloops will not issue a business license. So, the city itself is creating the illegal behaviour."