Against a backdrop of strict regulation, declining sales and relentless competition from the illicit market, Cannabis New Brunswick is looking ahead to the next three years.
The Crown corporation has begun developing a new strategic plan, expected to be released next February or March, according to CEO Lori Stickles. She said many of the goals from the first plan have yet to be achieved.
“It was a lofty plan when we set it out,” she said. “There are several things that did not happen as we had planned.”
Those goals included ambitions to introduce in-store sampling at Cannabis N.B. locations, and to offer cannabis-infused beverages in restaurants. Both require regulatory changes from the province, but Stickles said dialogue with the government has been good and those goals are still on the table.
Cannabis N.B. also hoped to expand access to legal products in rural communities, selling in convenience stores alongside liquor and tobacco. The corporation was again blocked by regulatory restrictions, but Stickles confirmed that work toward that goal also continues, especially as Cannabis N.B. competes with the illicit market.
“We want to be able to provide that safe access within more rural communities,” she said of the efforts to offer products in communities where it “doesn’t make economic sense” to have a standalone store.
The number of standalone stores has increased across the province over the past three years. Cannabis N.B. now has 32 corporate stores and 12 private retail stores. It also has nine farm-gate stores, which are locations where cannabis producers can legally sell their own products.
Some form of a loyalty program was also part of Cannabis N.B.’S original strategic plan, and while Stickles said it likely won’t exist in the traditional sense due to Health Canada’s marketing rules, it should roll out sometime in the next year.
Declining cannabis sales are a national trend
After legalization in 2018, Cannabis N.B. saw sales increase every year. That trend ended in the 2025-26 fiscal year when the corporation earned $20.9 million, falling short of the previous year’s net earnings of $23.1 million.
First-quarter results offer little signs of a turnaround. Net income is down 20.4 per cent compared to the same quarter last year. In a report, Cannabis N.B. chalks this up to a shift in consumer preference from the premium dried flower, to convenience products like vape pens.
Cannabis New Brunswick ended its first strategic plan with many goals unmet. As the Crown corporation prepares to release its next plan in 2027, it’s trying to balance industry challenges with ambition.
Stickles says the corporation is also moving more products at a lower retail price. She says it may hurt “top line sales” but Cannabis N.B. is playing the long game, and hoping to attract more customers away from unregulated suppliers.
She points to “Toonie Tuesday,” a popular sales tactic in the illicit market: pre-rolls, $2 each, Tuesdays only. When an unregulated store in Moncton was raided and boarded up in the spring, Cannabis N.B. decided to offer the promotion at its own stores.
“We immediately saw a whole lot of new customers coming into our store that had come from that store,” Stickles said.
The promotion sold 100,000 pre-rolls in its first month. When CBC interviewed Stickles in August, she said that number was up to 188,000, and with a supplier secured, the promotion is now being permanently offered province-wide.
Still, industry watchers know cost-of-living stressors like rising gas prices can send people back to the unregulated market.
“Even if it’s a matter of saving $10 going to an illegal store versus a legal store in today’s economy, that can mean a lot,” said David Brown, founder of the cannabis media group StratCann and former senior policy advisor with Health Canada’s cannabis branch.
For instance, a one-gram vape pen costs between $40 and $60 at Cannabis N.B., but the same amount would fetch you a two- or three-gram pen at an unregulated store.
Edibles, too, are a problem; Health Canada regulations mean they can’t contain more than 10 milligrams of THC, whereas an unregulated product could contain 500 mg or more for a fraction of the price.
It’s a contentious issue within the industry, according to Brown.
“[Producers] really want to see those higher potency edibles to meet market demand and to be able to better compete with some of those illicit products. In my experience, that’s a pretty hard line for Canada, and historically, they’ve not been willing to really budge on that.”
Not that there hasn’t been compromise. In 2025, Health Canada updated regulations to allow up to 100 mg of THC in a single package, Brown said, though individual pieces still can’t exceed 10 mg and the edibles have to be packaged within a larger package.
“So it’s not bringing costs down quite as much as people were hoping,” Brown said. “But we are seeing evidence of a slight increase of edible sales that does seem to be connected to that.”
Despite the challenges, Canada’s cannabis industry has contributed more than $43 billion to the GDP since legalization, and Stickles said excise revenue coming back to New Brunswick is around $13.5 million.
“We want to be profitable and return that value back to New Brunswick,” she said. “But we also continue to stay very focused on our mandate of converting those customers over and ensuring a safe, safe access to regulated product.”
