A statement from OPSEU's President on lottery for cannabis sales licences

TORONTO, Sept. 3, 2019 /CNW/ - OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas issued the following statement on word last week that the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario threw out a dozen applications for licences to sell cannabis:

I am bewildered as to why the Premier is allowing this chaos to continue, the only people who are benefiting are those in gang related crime and a few Ford cronies looking to make a quick buck.  

If Ford had stuck to the previous government's more sensible and responsible plan of leaving cannabis sales in the hands of the LCBO, we would have had up to 80 stores up and running now. 

Instead we have a joke of a system where only a fraction of that number are open for business.

We have a mess where a dozen dubious additional applications are being rejected by regulators and one applicant withdrew completely, for all we know, out of sheer frustration.             

On top of that we have yet another scandal.

Reports over the weekend say the government-run Ontario Cannabis Store has violated its own privacy policies by selling customer data to licensed cannabis producers.  

Many Ontarians aren't old enough to remember Watergate and the U.S. Presidency of Richard Nixon. However, what we're seeing of the Premier's handling of cannabis and many other files smacks of the kind of sneaky, secretive and paranoid style of governing that came with those years.

A truly great leader is secure enough in themself to acknowledge mistakes and when necessary goes back to the drawing board.

It speaks volumes that the Premier has chosen not to admit his mistakes on cannabis while walking back hamfisted decisions on other files.  As the federal election looms, we are seeing the Ford government cover up mistakes and paper them over with empty slogans and fake news stories praising the government.

Instead of showing leadership and making things right, duplicitous Doug has spent the summer trying to get out of the way of federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, but it's not working.

Ontarians have figured it out. Under Doug Ford, public policy in Ontario has gone to pot. They don't want the same thing to happen to their country. That is why Scheer's popularity has reversed faster than a Doug Ford policy decision.

This Tory way is no way to govern. It's time for adult supervision.

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)