Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has released the names of 25 winners of a lottery held to determine who may apply for the province's first cannabis retail licences.
The winners, selected from 17,000 applicants, are largely entrepreneurs, not corporations.
No further information was provided about the winners, including the communities in which they are based.
Winners now have five business days to submit formal applications with a $50,000 letter of credit and a $6,000 non-refundable fee.
Ontario's first private cannabis stores are expected to open April 1.
Until then, recreational cannabis can only be legally sold through the province's government-operated website.
The winners were awarded based on five census divisions.
Greater Toronto Area region was given six licences for stores in Durham, York, Peel and Halton regions.
Toronto region encompasses the City of Toronto. Five licences were awarded to cannabis retailers in that region.
East region, which received four licences out of the five maximum permitted by the Ontario government, includes Collingwood, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry; Prescott and Russell; Ottawa; Leeds and Grenville; Lanark; Frontenac; Lennox and Addington; Hastings; Prince Edward; Northumberland; Peterborough; Kawartha Lakes; Simcoe; Muskoka; Haliburton; and Renfrew.
North region includes Nipissing, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Greater Sudbury, Timiskaming, Cochrane, Algoma, Thunder Bay, Rainy River, and Kenora. There were two licences granted for the north region.
West region includes Dufferin, Wellington, Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand-Norfolk, Brant, Waterloo, Perth, Oxford, Elgin, Chatham-Kent, Essex, Lambton, Middlesex, Huron, Bruce, Grey, and Manitoulin. There were seven licences granted in the west region.
Winners in the province are:
- Guruveer Singh Sangha (Greater Toronto Area region)
- David Nguyen (Greater Toronto Area region)
- Tripsetter Inc. (Greater Toronto Area region)
- Alexander Altman (Greater Toronto Area region)
- CGS Foods Inc. (Greater Toronto Area region)
- Gary Hatt (Greater Toronto Area region)
- Heather Conlon (Toronto region)
- Seyedarash Seyedameri (Toronto region)
- Colin Campbell (Toronto region)
- Dana Michele Kendal (Toronto region)
- Hunny Gawri (Toronto region)
- Daniel Telio (east region)
- Brandon Iong (east region)
- Patterson and Lavoie (east region)
- Karan Someshwar (east region)
- Steven Fry (west region)
- Lisa A Bigioni (west region)
- Ranjit basra (west region)
- 2674253 Ontario Inc. (west region)
- Santino J Coppolino (west region)
- Christopher Comrie (west region)
- The Niagara Herbalist (west region)
- Anton Lucic (north region)
- Saturninus Partners (north region)
