Jon Liedtke
Dec. 9 2025
Stratcann
Have you ever wondered why you can walk into a private cannabis store in some provinces, but must visit government-run stores in others? Or why you can grow your own plants in some provinces, but not in all?
This isn’t random; it’s the direct result of Canada’s unique system of government—a constant tug-of-war between two powerful forces: federal power and provincial control. For anyone who uses, grows, or sells cannabis, understanding this isn’t just political science—it’s the key to understanding the rules of the game.
The Basics: Who makes the rules?
Imagine Canada’s rulebook was split in two at our founding in 1867.
- The Federal Government (Ottawa) wrote the big, national rules: criminal law, defence, and international trade. This gave them the sole power to remove cannabis from the list of banned substances.
- The Provincial Governments wrote the local rules: schools, hospitals, and—most importantly for cannabis—managing “property and civil rights.” This is the ‘legal secret sauce’ allowing them to control how cannabis is sold and distributed within their borders.
When cannabis was legalized in 2018, these two rulebooks collided.
The Federal Floor: Making cannabis legal everywhere
Ottawa’s primary objective was to legalize cannabis. Using its power over criminal law, the federal government did three key things:
- Legalized possession and use for adults.
- Set the national minimum age at 18.
- Created the rules for licensed producers who grow the cannabis we buy.
These steps created a national floor. No province could keep cannabis completely illegal. This federal move ensured that, from coast to coast, simply having a gram of legal cannabis in your pocket wouldn’t get you arrested.
The Provincial Walls: Building a patchwork of rules
If Ottawa set the floor, the provinces got to build the walls and decide what the structure looked like inside. This is provincial restrictiveness—the right to create rules that are stricter or more specific than the federal baseline.
This is why Canada doesn’t have one cannabis system, but ten different ones (plus three territories). Using their local power, provinces have created a famous “patchwork quilt” of regulations:
- Where You Buy: Private stores, government-run stores, or a mix.
- Legal Age: The federal minimum is 18, but provinces can set it higher.
- Growing at Home: Federal law allows four plants; some provinces ban it entirely.
- How Stores Operate: Each province has unique licensing requirements, application processes, and marketing rules.
This “restrictiveness” lets provinces tailor the market to local values, but it makes the industry complex to navigate.
Trina Fraser, a leading Canadian cannabis lawyer and partner at Brazeau Seller LLP, explained that the nation’s complex cannabis framework stems from the Constitution Act, which established the country and the fact that we are a nation that consists of a number of provinces and territories.
She explained that the division of powers between the federal government and the provinces, and the further delegation of certain powers to municipalities, have created a situation in which “all three levels of government are engaged in different ways when it comes to regulating the production, sale, and promotion of cannabis.”
This division has created a patchwork of retail systems across Canada.
Fraser noted that while cannabis is legal across the country, it doesn’t mean that every Canadian has the same level of access. She stated that consumer access is mainly driven by retail, and retail is provincially driven. “We have a real mixed bag of approaches to the sale of cannabis,” which includes entirely publicly controlled, entirely privately distributed, and hybrids of the two models.
For businesses, this provincial complexity has encouraged a focus on specialization and B2B wholesale, a shift from the pre-legalization model.
Before the Cannabis Act, the whole industry was built on this model of vertical integration, explained Fraser, adding that “there wasn’t a whole lot of B2B activity.”
Fraser also noted that following legalization, there was an explosion of industry segmentation and B2B relationships because it’s not straightforward to sell into every province and territory, and because of the complexity, many businesses are choosing to focus on their specific expertise.
According to Fraser, public health concerns are the primary driver behind these disparate provincial approaches because cannabis is a product which still has “justifiably inflated public health concerns attached to it.”
The disparate approaches taken by provinces regarding what can be sold, how it can be sold, and who can sell it are driven more by public health concerns, perceived or real, than by anything else, but politics is still very much in play.
When asked about the potential for a harmonized national system, Fraser was cautiously optimistic.
“Will we ever get to a position of national harmony? Probably not, not perfectly. I’m hoping that over time we’ll come closer than what we are now,” she said, adding that as provinces get more of a track record, they look back at what worked, what didn’t, and reflect on best practices as the data set grows.
So, what happens when they disagree?
You might ask: If the federal government legalizes home growing, how can provinces ban it? Doesn’t federal law win?
This is the heart of the tension. The courts have generally ruled that as long as a provincial law doesn’t directly contradict the core purpose of the federal law, it can stand. The core purpose of the Cannabis Act was to legalize cannabis and keep it out of the hands of kids and criminals. A province banning home growing was seen as a stricter local safety measure, not a direct challenge to the fact that cannabis is legal.
Andrew Hathaway, a sociology professor at the University of Guelph, explains that the legalization brought a balancing act between the provinces and the federal government.
He said that it’s a balancing act when it comes to access, with some provinces offering relatively few outlets compared to those in our major centers. “For somebody living in a remote rural area to access it [is different] in the way that an urban dweller would.”
Hathaway doesn’t understand the tight restrictions on home growing that some provinces have imposed or prohibited, and believes there’s fear that cannabis will become a slippery slope to large-scale production and facilitation of organized crime.
He sees that the home grower became demonized following legalization and that an image of the domesticated legal product was somehow different than “what has always been provided in the illicit market structure and, of course, a lot of the lessons from that illicit market structure, the know-how, and the expertise that went into crafting.”
Hathaway believes this is due to Canadian cannabis being renowned worldwide, which has allowed the old perceived ‘bad guys’—the advocates, activists, and pre-legalization growers—to now be integrated into the system as ‘legacy growers.’ He suggests they continue to help facilitate “the green-washed image” of a boutique model versus the large-scale “cafeteria model”.
When it comes to craft cannabis, Hathaway believes that, because legalization significantly lowered the price per gram for consumers, they are willing to continue to pay a higher price for a higher quality legal product. “That’s a better deal than we were getting back in the day before legalization.”
However, when it comes to the question of whether cannabis is truly legalized if not every Canadian has equal access, Hathaway acknowledges that while it’s a good philosophical question, it’s also one that can be applied to any consumer product with respect to urban or rural access.
He says that it’s probably fair to say that cannabis is now simply a consumer product, in the same zone of unequal access for certain consumers as all products.
The bottom line for your cannabis experience
What does this all mean for you?
- The federal rules are your baseline: You are protected by federal law. The cannabis you buy from any legal store is federally regulated for safety and potency.
- Your local rules are what you live by: The fundamental differences you experience—where you shop, how old you have to be, whether you can grow a plant in your home—are determined by your provincial government.
- The rules can change: The balance between Ottawa and the provinces is constantly being tested. As the industry evolves, so will the regulations.
What about the business people?
The multi-layered regulatory environment creates significant roadblocks for cannabis companies, particularly in marketing and sales. According to Lisa Campbell, CEO and Founder of Mercari Agency, a key issue is the conflict and “ambiguity” between municipal, provincial, and federal rules.
Campbell points to the emerging on-premise consumption market as a prime example. “Most recently in Alberta, we have started to do on-premise sales at events, which is super exciting, but there’s still so much ambiguity on consumption, which is municipally regulated,” she explains. “This ambiguity often means municipalities have no rules for smoking and vaping, but a regulatory vagueness with no specific language for beverages or edibles.”
This patchwork approach creates a disjointed experience. “In Ontario, you can consume cannabis beverages in licensed liquor venues (but not sell or mix), but in Alberta there’s no language around beverages or edibles in on-premise licensed settings,” Campbell notes.
To resolve this, she calls for a clear path forward: “We need to update our provincial liquor and cannabis laws to permit beverage sales and consumption across Canada, and ideally allow licensed events and venues to sell and consume cannabis beverages like alcohol.” Campbell stresses that this would require amending both provincial cannabis and liquor acts.
A cannabis conclusion?
The Canadian cannabis landscape isn’t a flaw; it’s a feature of our country’s design, representing a dynamic balance between national standards and local control. For everyone from the casual consumer to the industry entrepreneur, understanding this complex system is the first step to mastering the legal market.
However, like all legislation, this framework is not immutable. The intricate patchwork of rules across Canada continues to evolve, and substantial reforms are possible. Ultimately, persistent effort and market demand will be the catalysts for significant change.
Jon Liedtke is a SAG-AFTRA broadcast radio host, reporter and opinion columnist who is heard weekly on 610CKTB. He owns and operates Jon Liedtke Consulting, a firm serving hospitality, cannabis, and regional tourism providers. A former community newspaper publisher and owner of the world’s then-largest cannabis lounge, Higher Limits, Liedtke is an established political and cannabis pundit who previously played trumpet in The Nefidovs.
This article first ran on STRATCANN
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