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CannTrust has all licenses reinstated

CannTrust is back up and fully running after it announced last week all of its previously suspended cannabis licenses have been reinstated by Health Canada.
Bag
Inside a storage vault in June 2019, a CannTrust employee holds a bag packed with $100,000 worth of cannabis. The vault contained some $50 million dollars worth of product. VOICE FILE

CannTrust is back up and fully running after it announced last week all of its previously suspended cannabis licenses have been reinstated by Health Canada.

The news mostly covered the company’s Vaughan manufacturing facility —CannTrust already had its Fenwick operation’s license reinstated in May.

“Health Canada has reinstated the license for Canntrust’s Vaughan Manufacturing Facility in addition to the earlier reinstatement of the license for the Fenwick Perpetual Harvest facility,” a statement from CEO Greg Guyatt to the Voice read on Sunday.

“We are extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of the entire CannTrust team during the last year to improve every aspect of our business, with particular emphasis on ensuring corporate governance and regulatory compliance is a fundamental pillar of our corporate culture.”

Guyatt added that cultivation at the Fenwick site “is proceeding well and on plan.”

The final reinstatement caps a 14-month odyssey for the company, which began last summer when a former employee in Fenwick blew the whistle on the company’s illegal growing operations. Beyond suspension of licenses by federal regulators, the fallout has included the firing of CannTrust’s executive team, the destruction of some $77 million-worth of illegally grown product, hundreds of layoffs, and a share-price plummet that resulted in the company’s delisting from the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.

Now that they’re fully operational again, CannTrust said they intend to be returning their products to market by the fall.

“Our focus now is on resuming manufacturing so that we can, once again, provide patients and customers with the high-quality products they expect from us before the end of the fourth quarter of 2020,” Guyatt said.

Prior to the scandal, CannTrust was one of the largest cannabis companies in Canada, with an active medical clientele of 67,000 customers. Despite the reinstatement, the company continues to operate under creditor protection, while also initiating a Sale and Investment Solicitation Process (SISP) to gauge the market value of its physical assets.

   


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John Chick

About the Author: John Chick

John Chick has worked in and out of media for some 20 years, including stints with The Score, CBC, and the Toronto Sun. He covers Pelham Town Council and occasional other items for PelhamToday, and splits his time between Fonthill and Toronto
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