The owner of Fiore Fresco Cannabis on Kamloops North Shore says he’s quite happy council decided to dramatically reduce business licensing fees for cannabis retailers in the city.
Taking into effect in 2023, the business license for cannabis retailers in Kamloops will cost $196.40, which is the same price other private retailers in the city pay for the license.
Dino Bernardo says this is a substantial drop from the $5,000 he was paying for the license to operate his cannabis store previously.
“I saw where the city’s mindset was when they first set it. I think they thought there was going to be a lot more work to this and I think initially, there was a lot of work to go with it. But I think now, we’ve proven that we’re just as legitimate as any other business that operates in Kamloops.”
Bernardo says this step from the city is one of many positive changes made by governments for cannabis stores since weed was first legalized in Canada over four years ago.
“The one thing I will say is I’m really happy the city, the province, and the federal government has realized what some of the mistakes were in the beginning and have gone forward and changed them,” he said.
“This is a massive saving for us that we will be able to save and put it back into the business.”
Asked Bernardo if he thinks it should have taken four years to see the cost of the business license reduced.
“In all fairness to the city, they had a lot to worry about for the last three, four years with COVID and everything else that was going on. Just the same as the federal government’s looking at changing a lot of the rules that they set up initially,” he said.
“I think it was very overly regulated to start and I think now they’re going to start realizing that okay, well, maybe we need to back off on this and then change some of the rules so that you know that these businesses can flourish and survive.”
The new decreased fee for cannabis business licenses will take effect in 2023.