Those are good points. I would add that the restrictive micro-class regulations are really the gift that keeps giving to the illicit market. What we're seeing is consumers are really voting with their feet. They don't have the product they want on the store shelves. They don't have fresh, locally grown cannabis available in their local legal store.
With only 80 farmers approved in B.C. in the first four years of legalization, it's almost impossible to find that product anywhere. As long as we continue to restrict access to the market, to the expert farmers—and we're talking about thousands of B.C. farmers being needed to meet a local supply, as consumers want to buy local—to meet the national demand for B.C. bud and the growing global market for B.C. cannabis.... Other countries are coming on board, and B.C. has an incredible reputation. As I said, it is an asset for our country that we have the best cannabis farmers in the world here in B.C. and across Canada.
There are great craft farmers across the country. As long as the government continues to restrict access to these expert farmers, and as long as they continue to deprive consumers of what they really want—fresh, locally grown cannabis—I fear that the current dynamic is just going to continue and that we're going to start losing these farmers. We're already seeing farmers who fought long and hard to get a micro licence just walk away from it, which is very sad.
There are thousands and thousands of jobs at stake in rural communities. We see rural communities suffering with layoffs in forestry and fisheries, and large producers are laying people off in rural communities. Here we have a whole network of expert farmers who are just waiting to join the market, give consumers what they want and create—