What ever happened to HC cracking down on illegal shops?

looking back at the article "Pot shop owner wants City of Toronto to crack down on illegal dispensary next door" from CBC..

Michael Smee · of CBC News · Posted: Oct 15, 2021 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 19, 2021

Pot shop owner wants City of Toronto to crack down on illegal dispensary next door

'I'm losing money every day,' says Levon Kostanyan, owner of Lagoo

Levon Kostanyan, the owner of Lagoo, a licensed cannabis shop on Harbord Street in Toronto, wants the city to do more to crack down on illegal operations. (Mike Smee/CBC)40 comments A licensed cannabis dispenser wants the city to do more to weed out illegal pot shops like the one that's operating openly just two doors down from his place. "The City of Toronto needs to take some action," said a frustrated Levon Kostanyan Thursday while standing in front of Lagoo, his newly-minted cannabis store on Harbord Street west of the city's downtown core. "There is a legal store that has all the licences that has all the products that are meeting Health Canada regulations. And there is a store next door that doesn't have any licence .. .and it's operating fully. It's affecting my daily sales." But Carleton Grant, executive director of the city's municipal licensing and standards division, insists city hall is doing everything it can to crack down on the controversial CAFE chain of pot shops, one of which neighbours Lagoo. "We're aware of CAFE and their operations," Grant said. "We've been working to close them down for the last number of years." CAFE, which stands for Cannabis and Fine Edibles, is facing several charges under the province's Cannabis Control Act. The city won't discuss the charges while the issue is still before the courts. (Mike Smee/CBC) City staff told CBC Toronto CAFE, which stands for Cannabis and Fine Edibles, is facing multiple charges under the Ontario Cannabis Control Act laid by bylaw enforcement officers in 2018, 2019 and 2020. All of the charges (the city wouldn't say exactly how many have been laid) are still before the courts. "We're waiting for that court process to take place to deal with them accordingly," Grant said. Kostanyan says it took a year and tens of thousands of dollars to get his shop renovated and the operation licensed by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. He finally opened about three weeks ago. But he said he's "frustrated" watching potential customers walk by his shop and buy weed from the neighbouring, illegally operated CAFE outlet. The head of the city's municipal licensing and standards division, Carelton Grant, disputes the idea that the city hasn't done anything to rein in illegal pot shops. (Greg Bruce/CBC) And he wonders why the city could so quickly shut down the Adamson Barbecue restaurant in Etobicoke last year for defying COVID-19 protocols, but seems powerless to control CAFE. Grant said the two situations aren't comparable, because restaurants need to be licensed by the city, but pot shops are not. They operate under licences issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Although police technically can shut down an operation, Kostanyan said he was told by the city that the decision has been made to enforce the Cannabis Control Act by using the city's bylaw enforcement officers — not police.

So what ever happened!, since then, there hasn't been any updates in the media or the news regarding this situation. I travel all over the GTA, I see there is even more of these types operations all over the place, I have access to see the new registered operations, and some of them I have come across are not on the list, and they are selling shit at shittier prices, saturating and killing the legal and legacy market. People have no idea the impact it has on the entire cannabis industry. The people who are legal can't compete, and the same goes for the legacy operations that offer specialty services like a house calls from your doctor back in the old days. Seems to me based off this article it trickles into the regulatory system where some one is either not doing their job and passing the buck, or some ones hands are being greased to not see wtf is going on. Either way the GTA market is a tad bit challenging right now for anyone, and it doesn't seem to be going away.

This is why I am happy for the 420 CUSP membership!