Tag: Business

Cobourg’s Cannabis Facility can now Sell Product

John Draper

After some turmoil with a change of management, Cobourg’s Cannabis factory has now achieved a milestone: they can now sell their product.  FSD Pharma Inc. announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary FV Pharma Inc. has received its Sale for Medical Purposes licence to sell cannabis under the Cannabis Act (Canada). The licence went into effect on April 18, 2019.  The licence allows the current FSD facility to supply and sell cannabis products. The company anticipates receiving the amended sales licence that will include the sale of dried and fresh cannabis flower in the near future.  Dr. Raza Bokhari, Executive Co-Chairman and CEO said, “Our sales licence is a key development for FSD Pharma and a huge success and step forward… Read complete articleCobourg’s Cannabis Facility can now Sell Product

CFIB ranks Cobourg for Entrepreneurs

John Draper

Cobourg’s size is at the lower end of the 125 cities surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) but it’s doing better than many other cities – even better than the City of Toronto and about the same as Belleville.  CFIB says that local governments “control only some of the levers that make cities work. How well these levers are used, however, can make a tremendous difference to local businesses and residents”.  But they concede that “while local governments can influence local economic activity, they can’t usually make it happen directly. For that, they need local entrepreneurs to carry the ball — those who risk their own capital, time and effort”.  But when municipal governments do it right,… Read complete articleCFIB ranks Cobourg for Entrepreneurs

Petition to Keep Northumberland Mall

John Draper

In August 2018, Northumberland Mall announced that they had a new owner and that they had plans to at least do a facelift and more likely do a major upgrade.  The planned expansion of the cinema was put on hold and we were told that there should be some news by January but this did not happen.  Meanwhile a few stores have closed although others are continuing.  Not content with waiting for something to happen, Kim Goebel has started an online petition at Change.org asking management to keep it the way it is and to not turn it into a strip mall. Kim is concerned that poor management has caused traffic to drop so that stores then move out.  After… Read complete articlePetition to Keep Northumberland Mall

More changes at Cobourg’s Cannabis Facility

John Draper

The entrepreneur who started the idea of using the old Kraft factory as a cannabis grow factory has now left the company.  Thomas Fairfull has been replaced as President of FV Pharma and is leaving the company.  Last October, he sold his shares in the parent company FSD Pharma for $8.5M (see links below for source) so he may be happy with the arrangement.  He sold his FSD Pharma shares at $0.64 which is more than they are currently priced at ($0.20).  The new President is Sara May, Ph.D. who was previously responsible for quality assurance at FV Pharma.  The announcement follows the termination of the joint venture between Auxly Cannabis Group and FSD Pharma which Fairfull had helped setup. … Read complete articleMore changes at Cobourg’s Cannabis Facility

Development News

John Draper

Plans continue for expansion of housing in Cobourg with two projects getting attention at Monday’s Council meeting.  The biggest expansion in the long term will be in the North East with thousands of homes planned starting with 1700 at the north end of Brook Road (see link below).   This is expected to one day require a new interchange on the 401 near Nagle Road.  Preliminary work includes an Environmental assessment which will start soon (maybe Spring – stay tuned) and include a public meeting.  A smaller more immediate development will be at the south end of Brook Road at 425 King East where 27 Townhouses will be built.  This is still in preliminary stages but at some point, a public… Read complete articleDevelopment News

Busy Opening Day for Market and Smør

John Draper

According to Lucas Cleveland, Market and Smør is giving the Cobourg community what they asked for – a greengrocer focused on local, fresh food.  When they came to Cobourg and before they could open a store to do that, Lucas and Montana took over the beach canteen with the idea of providing healthier snacks.  Per their business principle of listening to their customers, they found that French Fries etc were wanted; so these were included in their offerings. For their new store, a survey told them that customers want “local” more than they want organic so “local” is the focus – although 20% of their product is certified organic. Lucas said that many local farmers grow organically but can’t afford… Read complete articleBusy Opening Day for Market and Smør

Affordable Rental Housing Developer asks for Council Support

John Draper

At the recent Municipal election, there was a lot of talk about the need for affordable housing in Cobourg.  Council seems supportive but now Balder Corporation is asking for tangible support from the Town so they can get financing of almost $9M from CMHC.  They want to build a four storey 60 unit apartment block at 315-325 University Avenue West but to get financing, they have to obtain “concessions from any level of Government”.  Since the province is unlikely to be supportive, they are asking Cobourg.  It does not have to be a large amount – in fact they do not specify an amount but leave it to council to decide.  The subject will come up at the next Committee… Read complete articleAffordable Rental Housing Developer asks for Council Support

Report on Downtown Vitalization to Date

John Draper

The idea of Downtown Vitalization for Cobourg first started in 2011 with the first plan produced July 2013. It was intended to make Cobourg’s Downtown more vibrant and attractive with fewer closed stores.  The idea was that an upgrade of its appearance would increase the attractiveness of Downtown to both businesses and residents.  Over time, responsibility for the project moved from the Economic Development Advisory Committee to the Cobourg Downtown Coalition Advisory Committee (DCAC) and at the next Committee of the Whole Meeting on February 19, the DCAC will issue their “Final Report”.  Although the report is labelled “Final”, they recommend that the committee be “re-constituted by the Town for at least another four years”.  The report is a comprehensive… Read complete articleReport on Downtown Vitalization to Date