Happy C-Day, everyone

Needless to say, it has been an exciting day here in Canada for fans of all things cannabis. The first legal sales took place early Wednesday with Newfoundland and Labrador ringing in the inaugural purchase amid some major hoopla. As Bloomberg’s Kristine Owram and Doug Alexander and Jen Skerritt describe, it’s a historic moment for an industry that has rapidly moved from the fringe to the mainstream. Canada now has a significant headstart in the global cannabis industry, which is expected to reach US$32 billion in consumer spending alone by 2022.

What's next for the pot sector? Look south

The historic end of prohibition now places Canada in rarefied territory as the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana after Uruguay, and the first Group of Seven nation to do so. But now, what’s next for this burgeoning industry? BNN Bloomberg’s David George-Cosh takes a snapshot of the marijuana space, noting that the entire world is looking at Canada’s rollout of legal weed. If successful here, Canada will be the blueprint that the rest of the world will follow – including the U.S., the crown jewel that many Canadian producers would like to participate in.

Pot websites see sales surge on day one

Online pot shopping is now here in Canada and demand is unsurprisingly strong, according to The Canadian Press. Shopify, which runs several of the province’s online pot websites, including in Ontario, said it’s seeing more than 100 orders per minute and “hundreds of thousands” of orders have been processed. While volumes are higher than the average shopping day, they are still less than what Shopify has experienced on a typical Black Friday.

Aurora gets green light for NYSE listing

There’s another Canadian company ready to list its shares on a U.S. stock exchange. Aurora Cannabis received approval from the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, according to a filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While the company hasn’t received confirmation on what day its shares will trade on the NYSE, Aurora is poised to share the U.S. stage with some of its peers including Canopy Growth and Cronos Group.

The world is watching

The day weed became legal in Canada was also a moment that saw the country in the global spotlight. News outlets from around the world took stock of Canada’s liberalization efforts with the New York Times describing it as “an unlikely unifier, coming at a time when Canada has been buffeted by bruising trade talks with the United States.” The Wall Street Journal opted to focus on the looming supply shortage that should constrain the demand from Canada’s legal weed rollout. The BBC took stock of several Canadian cannabis so-called "ganjapreneurs" who took part in this new legal high. Meanwhile, Le Monde compared Canada’s moment to how other drug legalization efforts have fared in France and other European countries.

DAILY BUZZ

“I liked what I saw and I thought given the great social experiment beginning in Canada, this might be an appropriate thing to do.”
- Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on his decision to join Acreage Holdings’ board of directors

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new – and controversial – Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.