Over the past year, the BC Craft Farmers Co-Op has been actively advocating for a policy reset of Canada’s Cannabis Act regulations that are disadvantaging BC’s globally recognized craft farmers and failing to achieve the federal government’s original public interest goals of cannabis legalization.  In June 2020, in response to discussions with federal officials and in response to the economic crisis created by COVID-19, BCCFC submitted a comprehensive proposal of regulatory innovations that would unleash the potential of BC’s legendary cannabis farmers and create thousands of jobs when our country needs it the most.

Last month, this work started to pay off with the announcement by the Government of Canada that they intended to revise the micro-class regulations. This is good news and significant progress, but we have to keep up the pressure for change.  As we reported previously, on December 12, 2020, Health Canada issued a Notice of Intent regarding various Cannabis Act Regulations. Specifically, the Notice asks:

  • Are the regulatory requirements for the micro-cultivation, micro-processing and nursery licenses appropriate given their scale?

  • Are there any elements of the regulatory framework that put micro-cultivation, micro-processing and nursery licence holders at a competitive disadvantage compared to larger companies? If so, how and what adjustments would you propose?

The Notice invites feedback on other elements of the Cannabis Act relevant to BCCFC members, particularly related to labelling, product testing, dosage caps and research. Thankfully, the federal review has been accelerated so the deadline for responses was Monday, January 11, 2021.

We are pleased to report that BCCFC President Bob Davidson submitted our recommendations this week.  In addition to reflecting priorities identified in our June 2020 Economic Development & Job Creation Proposal, our submission reflects feedback from our recent Member Survey and Working Committee sessions. We want to thank everyone for their feedback and look forward to keeping you updated on our efforts to see these proposals come to fruition on behalf of craft farmers, processors, retailers and our supporters across B.C.

READ OUR SUBMISSION HERE