The 2019 Canadian federal election came to an end last night, with Justin Trudeau once again coming out on top, winning the mandated to return to Ottawa as our Prime Minister, albeit this time with a minority government. So with the Liberals staying in power for a second term, does that mean it’s business as usual when it comes to cannabis?

Well, yes and no. Trudeau’s Liberals holds 157 seats – they needed to win at least 170 seats to win a majority – which means that Trudeau will have to rely on the support of other parties, most likely the NDP (which won 24 seats in the election and this party most politically aligned with the Liberals) in order to govern as they wish and pass legislation. 

With the Liberal party staying in Parliament Hill as a minority government, talks of western provinces separating from Canada are growing.

The movement, known as “Wexit” or “western exit,” proposes Alberta and Saskatchewan leave the country.

Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions, a licensed sales agency in Alberta, thinks the provinces splitting could allow them to capitalize on cannabis by avoiding the $1 per gram or 10 per cent federal excise tax.

“That would be seriously beneficial. It could be the new oil for Alberta and Saskatchewan,” she said in a phone interview.

As it draws to a close, 2019 is not looking like a good year for cannabis stocks.

The Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (TSX:HMMJ) declined 29% for the full year, and even more from its 52 week high. While individual marijuana stocks have varied greatly in their results, none of the large ones are up for the year.

The poor performance of cannabis this year could lead one to think that these stocks aren’t worth buying. For the most part, I’m inclined to think that that’s true. However, not all marijuana stocks are created equal.

A not-so-long time ago, cannabis stocks were sizzling hot. Many of them were also overhyped. This led to the inevitable industrywide decline as cannabis stocks fell out of favor. Investors realized that the sky-high sales and profits they expected could take longer to be achieved than they hoped.

Roughly one year ago, the Canadian pot industry could do no wrong. Marijuana stocks in our neighbor to the north were near their all-time highs, and investors were content in the fact that Canada had just become the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis. Sales officially began on Oct. 17, 2018.

On October 18, research firm Stifel Financial Corp identified its new top cannabis pick. Stifel’s new report, titled “Crowning a New King of the North,” believes that this pot stock has the greatest ability to invest in the emerging $200 billion global cannabis opportunity.

That’s a huge advantage given that most cannabis ETFs are down more than 50% from their 2019 highs. Those that can continue to invest can capitalize on industry-wide pain.

XPhyto Therapeutics has entered into an exclusive two-year European consulting agreement with Canadian cannabis expert Stephen Schroeder to work on the design, renovation, and commissioning of XPhyto’s state-of-the-art hydroponics and extraction facility in Germany.

A science-based cannabis company, XPhyto is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, and it is focused on formulation, clinical validation, and emerging European markets. Its German subsidiary, Bunker Pflanzenextrakte GmbH, holds a cannabis cultivation and extraction licence for scientific purposes granted by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) in July 2019.

One full year into Canada’s bold marijuana legalization experiment, and the overwhelming consensus is it’s been a dud. High prices, inferior quality, supply issues and a slow legal store rollout have all contributed to a persistent cannabis black market.

The cannabis industry may soon undergo a seismic shift that will lie in the hands of growers.

Researchers from the University of Ottawa are working on a hand-held tool that measures the ratio of THC to CBD in cannabis crops.

Adam Shuhendler, an assistant professor in the school’s chemistry department, told CBC the test is quick, easy and cheap.

“Our goal is accessibility,” he said.

“Push a button and out on the screen comes the ratio of CBD and THC.”