Perspectives
4 NEEPAWA BANNER & PRESS
Tundra
Dreams of cash up in smoke
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by Chad Carpenter
Canada must consider war with great caution
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t’s been a long time since the guns of WWI fell silent. One hundred and one years ago, in fact. Some of us are old enough to have known some WWI veterans. Most of us know WWII vets but, there are very few left with us. The Korean War was a much smaller conflict and it was almost 70 years ago. My brother was a Korean War vet, but he is gone now too. We have a number of military veterans with us who have served our country well in other places, in peacekeeping efforts, mostly in the Middle East. The irony of the opening sentence is that the guns have never actually fallen silent. Diminished yes, but silent, no. One has to wonder why we still have conflicts? There are many factors and while military action is still seen as a solution today, it rarely is the answer. Canada’s role as a military country has an interesting history. Our very nation was formed by war. The French colonists fighting the British in Canada’s early days, the government fighting the First Nations people and the Metis are all key points in Canadian history. Canada sent troops to the Boer War in the late 1800s. It is said Canada became a nation in WWI. By the time WWII came along, Canada became a major player in this thing called war. The 1950s saw the Korean Conflict and heavy Canadian involvement. Canada tried to be a peacemaker in the second half of the 20th century and on into the present day. By either war or peacekeeping standards, Canada has been pretty successful. After experiencing 400 years of military involvement, Canada needs to take a serious look at what the future holds. Hopefully, the next 100 years will look very neepawa
Banner & Press
STAFF
NOVEMBER 8, 2019
RIGHT IN THE CENTRE
Ken Waddell different from what the past 100 years has looked like. Hopefully, the results will be much different. Canada needs to take a serious look at what it can and should do. In spite of our great geographic size, Canada is still only a small percentage of the United States in population and economic capacity. That factor alone sets some boundaries about what we can and should do. Canada needs a strong and battle ready military on land, sea and in the air. We don’t have that right now, especially in the air and on the sea. Canada needs to have training and equipment that allows us to partner with our allies at home and, when necessary, abroad. That word, abroad, raises some serious considerations. Our interventions abroad were instigated out of the necessity of the times. Past decisions were made based on the best information available. It is unfair to criticize past decisions. To do so is a disservice to those who risked their lives for our sake. But future decisions and interventions need to be examined in the light of the best information available and of what we have learned from the past. Canada needs to be ready at all times to defend our borders and come to the defence of our allies. That said, I am not sure we should entangle ourselves in civil and
religious wars in far away places and, especially, in places where the people have no intention of sharing our view about peace and good government. In the bluntest of terms, if we intervene in countries that place little value on human rights or religious freedom, it is doubtful if we should send our people to die there. Canada is a relatively young country, but some of the places where we try to intervene have had a highly developed society for thousands of years. I doubt they are really prepared to take moral instruction or military intervention from us. Canada’s military needs to be ready to defend, to work at home, be ready to align with allies when necessary, but intervention should be done in a very measured and considered manner. Canada’s job is to build opportunity in Canada and defend Canada’s interest. If other countries like our approach, they are quite welcome to adopt it. However, we should tread very carefully, lest we think we can enforce our values in places where we are not welcome. Disclaimer: The writer serves as a volunteer chair of the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association. The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the MCNA board or Banner & Press staff.
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t seems like it should be the punchline of a joke about governments, but it’s the reality in Manitoba— in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the Province lost money selling drugs. When Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MLL) released their annual report for the year ending March 31, 2019, it showed a $2.4 million loss on cannabis sales. With the timeline, Oct. 17, 2018, and the accessibility, retail locations within a 30 minute drive for 90 per cent of the population, set by the federal government, the MY Province was in PERSPECTIVE a tough place. While the federal government mandated when Kate and where legal Jackman-Atkinson cannabis needed to be available for purchase across Canada, it left how that was to be implemented up to the country’s individual provinces. In Manitoba, the retail locations are operated by the private sector, but all the product sold must be purchased wholesale through MLL. During the first year of legal sales, there were 21 retail locations in the province, 13 of which were in Winnipeg. The provincial government collects income from cannabis sales in the form of wholesale markups and a social responsibility fee, which is a 6 per cent tax on retailers’ annual revenues. In 20182019, this grossed $5.3 million for the province. On the flip side, the costs associated with the sale of recreational cannabis were $7.8 million, $4.1 million of which were one-time costs. That $4.1 million included expenses such as policy development, health and safety considerations, training, enforcement and a public awareness campaign. The Winnipeg Free Press quoted a Manitoba Finance official as saying they didn’t know if cannabis would be profitable in the 2019-20 fiscal year. Not unexpectedly, the first year of legal sales saw some challenges. There were supply shortages across the country and MLL reported that they received about 30 per cent of their expected product volumes. These supply problems are likely to have impacted prices. Statistics Canada reported that based on 11 months of prices reported by Canadians, while legal cannabis was about $10.71/ gram, black market product was only $5.85/gram. For all the publicity about the legalization of cannabis, its sale is a very small portion of MLL’s operation. Last year, cannabis accounted for about 1 per cent of the Crown Corporation’s operating income. For comparison’s sake, in 2019, the operating income for cannabis sales was $3.4 million, compared to $286 million in liquor sales. It will be interesting to see how the sector develops in Manitoba, beyond the money the government does, or doesn’t make from it. The province is home to one publicly traded production and retail company, Delta 9. According to a press release, they reported a gross profit of $2.9 million in the second quarter of 2019. That’s almost $3 million more than in 2018, but the company still recorded a loss on operations. John Arbuthnot, Delta 9’s CEO, has talked about Manitoba’s cost advantages, including inexpensive power, rent and a relatively low cost of living. Legal, recreational cannabis was expected to fill government coffers and that hasn’t been the case, at least not yet. Though it could well happen and on Oct. 17, the next wave of products became legal. This second phase includes products such as edibles, beverages and topical products, though none are expect to be available for sale until mid December, once Health Canada has reviewed and approved them before they hit the market. As the market develops, more stores will open and product offerings will be expanded to include a wider audience of consumers, interested in different ways of consuming cannabis. However, these expanded offerings will likely come with added costs related to oversight, education and enforcement. The success of this experiment has yet to be determined.
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