Struggling Canadian province anticipates ‘thousands of jobs’ created by marijuana

The latest Canadian unemployment figures show that New Brunswick had a 9.7 percent unemployment rate in July 2016 — the country’s second-highest.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons the New Brunswick government’s economic policy adviser is looking forward to the jobs that will be created in the province by marijuana businesses in the years to come.

“Year over year we’re expecting hundreds next year and hundreds more the year after that,” New Brunswick economic policy adviser Susan Holt told Information Morning Fredericton on Wednesday. “So over a five-year term, we are looking at this being thousands of jobs.”

High unemployment rates aren’t new to New Brunswick; “The province has been struggling with stubbornly high jobless levels in recent years,” reports the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

But the government is hoping legal cannabis can help combat the region’s unemployment, which is why it’s investing millions in at least one cannabis business.

From the CBC’s report:

On Tuesday, the provincial government announced $4 million in funding to Atholville-based Zenabis to build a medical marijuana facility in the northern community.

Holt said that is just the start of the possible jobs.

“We anticipate a need for labour, the jobs Zenabis will create and what other producers will create, may challenge the talent pipeline,” said Holt.

“So we’re going to assess what kind of educational systems we have in place to deliver the kind of people can work in either the product research or production side of it to make sure that educational side of it is being supported.”