As the federal government’s cannabis legalization Bill C-45 is undergoing Senate scrutiny in Ottawa, the Yukon government is working to get its own Cannabis Control and Regulation Act passed in the legislative assembly during the current session.

The act lays out in minute detail many of the elements introduced in the government’s November 2017 cannabis legalization framework and January legislative summary.

Its guiding principles are “to remove illegal and illicit activity, and to protect health and safety with a focus on young people,” Patricia Randell, the director of cannabis implementation and education, explained at a technical briefing for the media on Friday.

As promised, the act provides for a hybrid public-private retail model.

Aspiring cannabis retailers can apply to a Cannabis Licensing Board once the act’s accompanying regulations are developed.

“We will try to make … the time between legalization and once we’re able to accept an application as tight as possible,” Matt King, president of the Yukon Liquor Corp., said at the briefing.

“But our intention is to make sure retail sales are available,” he said, at the time recreational cannabis becomes legal across Canada.

That date is still unknown, as it depends on Bill C-45’s progress in the Senate.

But as King noted, it will likely be late summer or fall.

The goal is to have a government retail store as well as government e-commerce available at that time, he said, as regulations for private sector retail probably won’t be ready.

“The store though is intended to be essentially an interim measure until such time as the private sector retailers can be established in the territory,” he said.

King’s commitment marks a new development from what John Streicker, the minister responsible for the liquor corporation, told reporters earlier this month.

At that time, he was non-committal about having a YG bricks-and-mortar cannabis retail location at the time of legalization.

He took that stance after the only response to a February request for proposal for a government cannabis warehousing and retail space came in at nearly $3.5 million.

“We’re still looking at the options right now,” King said Friday, when asked for further details about the government’s plan for a retail store.

Streicker told reporters March 12 that the government might go forward with the $3.5-million warehouse-retail space, or it could use its liquor corporation warehouse and source a separate retail space.

In addition to private retail, the Cannabis Control and Regulation Act also enables the future licensing of venues for cannabis consumption – “cannabis cafés” or “lounges” as they’re often referred to.

Otherwise, cannabis consumption is limited to privately-owned residences and adjoining property where permitted by the owner.

Given that under the act, a tobacco-smoking prohibition in a condo or rental unit is also interpreted as a cannabis-smoking ban, cannabis lounges could allow tenants a place to lawfully smoke up, Randell noted.

“It just might be more of a phased approach at the front end,” she explained.

“We require further work to be done though regulations, but the framework is within the act to allow that.”

She also noted that cannabis consumption comes in many forms.

“There’s smoking, there’s vaping, ingestion.”

While the federal government has indicated that edibles won’t be legalized right away, fresh and dried cannabis and cannabis oil will be.

The act allows the government to designate a distributor corporation – a new or existing government corporation – with the sole authority to purchase, import, and set the price of cannabis and determine the types and brands to be sold.

The purchase, cultivation, possession and consumption of cannabis is restricted to people who are 19 years of age or older.

Adults can’t give cannabis to someone under the legal age, and “must take reasonable measures to prevent access by young people to the cannabis that they possess,” Randell noted.

The public possession limit is up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent from a legal retailer.

Cannabis in a vehicle must be in a closed container that’s inaccessible to everyone in the vehicle.

The cultivation of up to four plants per household is permitted.

In terms of enforcement, the federal and territorial legislation will both apply in the Yukon if passed, Randell explained, so offences and penalties may overlap.

Minor offences under the territorial act will be ticketable, and a schedule will be developed under the Summary Convictions Act.

Public intoxication and consuming cannabis somewhere it’s not permitted under the act can result in a fine up to $2,000.

The Cannabis Control and Regulation Act passed first reading in the legislative assembly March 8.

The full text of the act can be accessed at http://www.legassembly.gov.yk.ca/house/pob.html