MP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston Scott Reid is among several local politicians weighing in on the announcement of job cuts and significant downsizing at Canopy Growth based in Smiths Falls.
Reid call the news a “shock” to the workers and their families, and says, “It is appropriate for everyone’s thoughts and prayers to be with them today.
He also speaks to what he calls the “overwhelming factors” that are, according to the MP, “The direct responsibility of the incumbent federal government.”
Reid cites “unreasonably high taxation and a high-cost regulatory burden that drives up the compliance costs of licensed cannabis producers without a commensurate benefit for public safety” chiefly among the reasons for the industry’s struggles.
The MP says that the multi-partisan Cannabis Industry Caucus and cannabis producers have been lobbying for change but their please have fallen on deaf ears.
“There is a single cause for this mess: The Trudeau government’s casual lack of seriousness, when it comes to doing the practical business of creating a taxation and regulatory environment in which this industry could, and should, flourish,” he writes.
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