Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Pierre Killeen. I am Vice-President of Government Relations with Hydropothecary, an authorized medical use cannabis producer located in Gatineau, Quebec. We were the first authorized producer in Quebec and we are now the only authorized producer that can sell cannabis for medical purposes. On April 11, we announced that we would be the preferred supplier to the Quebec market following an agreement concluded with the Société des alcools du Québec.
It is an honour for our enterprise and for me to appear before the Standing Committee on Finance to discuss issues related to Bill C-74. We want to thank the members of the committee for this opportunity to introduce ourselves, and we would also like to thank the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who asked for the right to consume cannabis for medical purposes in Canada. Without their efforts, there would be no legal cannabis industry in Canada.
Today, I will limit my remarks to Part 3 of the bill concerning the excise tax on cannabis products for medical and recreational purposes, and on the economic impact of these measures on our industry.
The economic opportunities for the cannabis industry amount to close to $10 billion in Canada. As for economic opportunities worldwide, the forecasts often surpass $50 billion.
Our industry will create thousands of jobs in Canada and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for our governments. With that in mind, let's focus on the political signals sent by Part 3 of the bill regarding the excise tax on cannabis.
With the cannabis industry's economic opportunities in mind, let's turn our focus to the policy signals that are being sent by Bill C-74.
When it comes to adult-use recreational cannabis, the excise tax duty that will be imposed on cannabis will be the greater of a dollar per gram or 10% of the price of the product. This price should allow legal, adult recreational cannabis to compete with illicit black market cannabis, which operates a very sophisticated market that sells and delivers cannabis online to Canadians with the tap of a mobile phone.
Bill C-74's approach to recreational cannabis sends positive public policy signals to Canadians and to Canada's industry. It says that we are committed to ending the illicit black market. We commend the government for setting the initial excise tax at this rate.
When it comes to cannabis for medical purposes, Bill C-74's decision to impose an excise tax on cannabis consumed for therapeutic purposes sends the wrong policy signals. The committee has heard from patient groups and others about the real-life consequences of this decision on Canadians. Let's focus our comments on the consequences of this decision for Canada's cannabis industry.
Medical cannabis, as we've said before, is going to be a multi-billion dollar industry on a global level. Recent estimates have pegged this at $55 billion a year by 2025. The therapeutic benefits of medical cannabis for chronic pain relief, cancer, arthritis, and other conditions are really just starting to be understood. Interest in the therapeutic properties of cannabis is driving investment and research by cannabis companies, by the pharmaceutical industry, and by wellness industries in Canada and the world over.
At the present time, Canada's cannabis companies are at the forefront of this industry. The prohibitions facing cannabis companies in the United States provide us with a first-mover advantage opportunity to create leading companies on a global level. It should also be noted that Canada's approach to medical cannabis is far different from that in the U.S. and that many experts are of the opinion that our push to medical cannabis will be the one most likely to be emulated in other parts of the world.
The world is watching what we're doing. At this stage, the policy signals we need to send to medical cannabis companies, to investors, and to the world is that Canada supports medical cannabis. Building a world-leading medical cannabis industry means a number of things across a number of public policy domains. When it comes to the fiscal domain, it means incentivizing people to stay in the medical cannabis stream and not discouraging them from doing so.
A healthy domestic market is needed in order to drive a healthy export market. It's tough to find successful exporters and businesses with weak domestic demand. The challenges facing our clean tech sector are evidence of this challenge.
In conclusion, we would recommend that part 3 of Bill C-74 be amended to remove the excise tax on cannabis purchased for medical purposes.
We welcome the opportunity to respond to your questions.