The New Brunswick government has opted to pull back away from its search for a private company to take over the province’s cannabis retail, with the move attracting mostly support, but also a call to reset the current approach.

On Friday, the provincial government announced it had discontinued its request for proposal (RFP) process — which kicked off in the late fall of 2019 and was rumoured to be down to one serious suitor — for privatizing recreational cannabis retail in New Brunswick.

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- New Brunswick's provincial budget doesn't include a decision about the potential privatization of Cannabis NB, but the province's finance minister said an announcement would be coming soon.

"I'm not going to comment on Cannabis NB other than to say Cannabis NB will be coming up in cabinet this Thursday," said Finance Minister Ernie Steeves on Tuesday. "I would suggest that shortly after that you'll get a sense of what's happening."

Later in the day, Steeves said it was his own personal preference to sell Cannabis NB in an interview with CTV's Steve Murphy.

Meanwhile, industry officials and municipalities are urging the New Brunswick government to keep Cannabis NB under provincial control.

A centre of excellence focused on developing new cannabis products is planned in Moncton as part of a tobacco company's purchase of a nearly 20 per cent stake in Organigram.

Organigram announced Thursday that the centre of excellence, focused on "developing the next generation of cannabis products with an initial focus on CBD," will be located at the company's indoor facility in Moncton.

It's part of a deal with British American Tobacco, which purchased $221 million in Organigram stock as it looks to diversify its existing line of cigarette and tobacco products.

Cannabis NB could be a thing of the past if the New Brunswick government opts to move forward with selling the provincial retailer, negotiations around which have been ongoing since last fall.

Global News reports the N.B. government has been in talks with a potential suitor since October. At that time, “negotiations started with the top-ranked proponent,” and the agency is in the final stages of negotiations at this time, said Cheryl Hansen, deputy minister of the Department of Finance and Treasury Board.

Cannabis NB hasn't exactly been sitting idly by while it awaits a decision on its fate.

The Crown corporation, which has been waiting for more than a year to hear whether its operations will be privatized, said Monday it has pulled in more than $6 million in sales in less than a month and is on track to post its fifth consecutive profitable quarter.

In an email, Cannabis NB and Alcool NB Liquor spokesperson Thomas Tremblay said Cannabis NB is "awaiting a decision from government and ... looks forward to hearing an outcome."

Cannabis NB is showing gains for the fourth consecutive quarter and continues to turn a profit.

Unaudited third-quarter results released Wednesday show the Crown corporation posted a net profit of $2.8 million.

That pushes Cannabis NB’s net profit for the fiscal to date to $7.4 million.

“We anticipate ending the fiscal year in a strong position with $10 million in profit,” Lori Stickles, president and CEO of Cannabis NB, said in a statement.

The Crown corporation was plagued by multimillion-dollar quarterly losses in the months after it opened in October 2018.

But things began to turn around in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 when Cannabis NB posted a small profit of $500,000.

Cannabis NB has reported sales of $19.3 million in its latest fiscal quarter, figures that land amid uncertainty about its future as a Crown operation. 

The figures push sales for the last 52 weeks to $72.7 million – a 79 per cent increase over 2019 – and position the agency to end the fiscal year in "a strong position," Cannabis NB's acting president and CEO Lori Stickles said.

Although the quarterly results are not audited, Stickles says the agency earned a net profit of $2.8 million during the final 13 weeks of 2020 and expects to return $10 million to the province by the end of the fiscal year in late March.

Kevin Vickers isn’t giving up on marijuana.

The New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party and Elections NB

Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX: OGI) is laying off 220 employees while warning of declining cannabis sales and writedowns.

On Friday, the New Brunswick-based company said with 25 per cent of its staff removed, it will move forward with a leaner workforce and production capacity that’s better aligned with current market conditions.

“These decisions are never easy to make, but we are committed to ensuring the company is appropriately sized relative to market conditions,” Organigram chief executive Greg Engel said in a statement.