Outstanding regulatory fees owed by federally regulated Canadian marijuana companies jumped more than tenfold in recent years, according to figures shared with MJBizDaily by Health Canada.
Industry officials suggest the amount of unpaid fees could be a symptom of squeezed producers being weighed down in an ultracompetitive market and having to choose which bills to pay on time.
Health Canada collects the fees to help defray the cost of regulatory-related services such as security screenings and import/export permits.
The agency’s data showed overdue fees as of Dec. 31 totaled 914,000 Canadian dollars ($726,000) for the 2020-21 fiscal year.
That’s more than 10 times the previous year’s $72,000 in unpaid fees for fiscal year 2019-20.
