On July 26, 2018, Ascent Industries Corp. ("Ascent" or the "Company") held a special meeting (the "Meeting") of its shareholders to consider the proposed amalgamation (the "Amalgamation") of the Company and Paget Minerals Corp. ("Paget"), in connection with a proposed public listing of the amalgamated company ("Amalco") on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") as previously announced. The Company is pleased to announce that the Amalgamation was approved by all the shareholders of Ascent at the Meeting. In addition, at a meeting of the shareholders of Paget held immediately after the Meeting of Ascent shareholders, the shareholders of Paget also overwhelmingly approved the Amalgamation, as well as the delisting of Paget from the NEX board of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The City of Toronto and much of Ontario is bracing for more complications with only 70 days left before cannabis is set to be legal across Canada.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford the Ontario Progressive Conservatives are sending strong signals that legal cannabis will be sold by private retailers rather than being sold by the Ontario Cannabis Store, as originally decided by the Ontario Liberal government.

The OCS initially planned to open 40 retail shops across Ontario, with 150 planned to be opened by the end of 2020. The locations were to be determined by the province with input from municipalities.

Natura Naturals Inc. ("Natura") is pleased to announce that Health Canada has approved "Grow Space 2," a 34,500 square foot flowering room that has an anticipated harvest yield of 4,500 - 5,000 kilograms of medical-grade cannabis per year.

Natura expects to have its first harvest from Grow Space 2 in approximately 70 days, adding to the existing yield of its Leamington-based facility. 

President and CEO of Natura, Ben Nikolaevsky, said that the Health Canada approval demonstrates Natura's industry-leading experience, and builds on their production momentum.

From a $1 billion projection to $2 billion in sales revenue by the year 2020, now is surely the best time to start thinking about putting your money where the cannabis plant grows.

When a new industry is born, big corporations come knocking—it’s a fundamental law of the business universe. We’ve seen this happen most recently in the marijuana market, where pot stocks are partnering with big alcohol and beverage companies.

One of them could become the “Pepsi of pot”…

Which one, you ask? Well, one of the targets we’ve identified is Lexaria Bioscience Corp (OTCMKTS:LXRP, CNSX:LXX), a biotech company known for marijuana-infused drinks and snacks. It’s listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Though Lexaria hasn’t closed a deal with a beverage giant (yet), industry pressures suggest the stock could be worth several times more than its current $1.78.

Five years ago, Yahoo Canada News did a series on the dying small towns of Canada. The stagnation was largely blamed on the exit of one industry or another from many of the places visited. One of the towns featured in that series was Smiths Falls, Ont., struggling to recover from the exit of chocolate maker Hershey’s in 2007. At the time, residents said tourism was the answer to the town’s economic woes. Little did they know the industry that would breath life back into Smiths Falls was cannabis.

The topic of Cannabis production came before delegates at the annual Fire Chiefs’ of BC Conference recently in Victoria.

Of particular concern was the personal production in residential buildings. “Currently local governments have no legislative authority to inspect these properties for safety compliance,” said FCABC President Phil Lemire. “With Cannabis soon to be regulated for sale in retail environments, there is no reason it should be grown in any residential buildings in B.C.”

BC’s Fire Chiefs resolved to continue working towards prohibition of personal production of Cannabis in residential buildings.

The Canadian cannabis stocks on our list trade at the strongest price/cash flow multiples in the sector

SmallCapPower | August 7, 2018: As a young industry, many cannabis producers are currently producing at a significant loss as they scale up production. Significant investments in increasing production and other infrastructure may pay off as companies begin to sell to the recreational market and recoup their costs. The five Canadian cannabis stocks we have discovered today have attractive price/cash flow multiples for the current fiscal year, suggesting that they represent better value than other stocks in the sector.

What is projected to be one of Canada’s leading cannabis production and research facilities continues to overcome regulatory and zoning hurdles.

City council last week supported a rezoning application from agricultural to industrial designation for the Flowr Corporation project on two McCarthy Road lots, situated along the border of Lake Country and Kelowna.

And the company started a public hiring blitz last week to fill various positions in the cannabis cultivation, processing and research areas.

Flowr is operating an 84,000 sq.ft. space set aside for cultivation, processing and office space, and introduced designs to Kelowna council last week for an additional 50,000 sq.ft. research and development building component.

Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world in the coming week:

Manulife earnings

Manulife Financial releases second-quarter results on Wednesday. The financial services company recently partnered with Shoppers Drug Mart to offer enhanced medical marijuana insurance coverage.