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The Politics of Cannabis

Welcome to the season finale of Legalized. Season 3 followed the early days of cannabis legalization as this historic promise became a reality. After spending the season exploring market trends, media developments and industry players, we took this episode to look back at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize recreational cannabis and the political repercussions of legalization at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government.

Navigator Executive Chairman Jaime Watt and Principal Amanda Galbraith, two seasoned political veterans, join host Danielle Parr to discuss the role cannabis played in the 2015 election, and how politicians at all three levels of government will aim to frame legalization going forward. We look at the pressure points, political reverberations and questions as the federal election approaches and as provinces and municipalities continue scrambling to get their houses in order. You won’t want to miss the insights, analysis and predictions.

This is Legalized, The Politics of Cannabis.

The China Conundrum

On the first episode of the new season, host Amanda Galbraith sits down with John Baird, her old boss and Canada’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, to discuss the rocky relationship between Canada and China, leaks at Queen’s Park and the balance of power south of the border in Venezuela

BC Bud

On this episode of Legalized, we zone in on British Columbia (BC), which has held the title of Canada’s cannabis capital for decades prior to legalization. We look at the different ways that provincial politics, local history and culture have shaped BC’s legal cannabis market. This billion-dollar industry of small growers and grey market dispensaries has in many ways faced growing pains adapting to legalization and finding a road to legitimacy in the new cannabis market.

To unpack it all, we take a trip to our Vancouver office, where Navigator Senior Consultant Alex Shiff spoke with Jamie Shaw, a long-time cannabis activist and industry insider, about BC’s unique environment for cannabis production and retail. Then, host Danielle Parr interviews Darren Henderson, partner at PwC Canada, to talk about the cannabis regulatory framework in BC.

BC’s cannabis future remains an open question, but through our guests’ insights, analysis and commentary, this episode provides an important and timely look at how we got here and the driving factors that will shape the industry’s success or failure. Listen now.

Building a Cannabis Empire

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first episode of Legalized in 2019.

On this episode we explore how Canadian companies are poised to grow and establish their presence in international markets.  While our focus has often been on the ability of Licensed Producers to service recreational Canadian consumers, their priorities are often much more extensive. They’re supplying medical patients. They’re entering international markets. They’re exploring retail options and, in some cases, cultivating and processing for edible products. They’re building and constantly fine-tuning brands. To put it succinctly, there are many competing priorities for cannabis companies on the path to building an empire.

How do executives set priorities? What drives their decisions? What pressure points are most important? How do they envision the industry evolving?  Danielle sits down with Alison Gordon,  CEO of 48North and Darren Karasiuk, Executive Vice President Adult Use, Global at Aurora Cannabis, two Licensed Producers with very different approaches to the cannabis industry, to discuss these questions and so much more.

 

Banking on Blockchain Update: January 11, 2019

Canada in Focus

The price of bitcoin has fallen again, leaving it at an extreme low – especially when compared to the price in December 2017 when it was over $20,000 CAD. The drop has been seen across the wider cryptocurrency market, including Rillple’s XRP and Ethereum. Analysts attribute the drop to several causes, but say there is an overall fear in the market surrounding security and blockchain technology itself.

Elections Canada, the agency responsible for policing the federal political fundraising efforts, is now polling parties on how best to manage contributions made with bitcoin and other cryptocurrency platforms. The agency has released a draft interpretation note detailing how these types of transactions should be handled. Parties will have until January 21 to submit their views on the issue, and will determine whether or not changes should be made to the final version of the note. Elections Canada has currently taken the position that cryptocurrency donations are considered non-monetary.

Following a previous announcement, Deloitte announced a plan to help The Institutes RiskBlock Alliance expand into Canada. This move could signal a significant step towards the development and international grown for blockchain-based insurance applications. RiskBlock also announced that it would chair blockchain standards for ACORD, the global body responsible for setting insurance industry standards.

The Canada-based securities broker Finequia has partnered with Nivaura, a capital markets technology company building a new way for automated issuance and administration of financial products under the auspices of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority’s “sandbox” regime. The partnership will deliver a fully tokenized bond-issuing in the UK. The news was announced in a press release this week, and mentioned how the type of tokenization in question is still relatively unexplored in the crypto space. The two companies will run a test on the Ethereum network, including registration and a token distribution before its official launch.

On the World Stage

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced federal funding of up to US$4.8 million for universities working on projects related to blockchain technology. Projects under the initiative are aimed at achieving more affordable domestic energy resources, improved electric grids, analytical results for coal plants, improved water reuse processes, or investigation on coal fly ash.

While the U.S. government is adopting blockchain technology in some departments, others are still skeptical. Meltem Demirors, the CSO of CoinShares says that a Bitcoin ETF is “absolutely not” going to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Demirors says that there are still fundamental concerns with respect to market stability and oversight.

NECTEC, Thailand’s national electronics and computer technology centre, has started a system of e-voting which revolves around blockchain technology. They believe that by utilizing blockchain technology, they will be able to ensure a safer voting process, which will be less susceptible to fraudulent voting practices. NECTEC is an administrative organization, which works under the Ministry of Science in Thailand.

In other news, two notable European regulators have both called for cryptocurrency and ICO rules at the EU level. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has urged the European Commission to examine whether unified crypto rules are required across the region. As a result, the EBA has asked for a comprehensive analysis to determine what action may be needed.