The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, July 9, edition that Ontario has blamed a shortage of legal cannabis from the federal government for its slow rollout of retail outlets, a claim dismissed by the federal government and regulatory bodies from other provinces. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that sales have been dampened by supply constraints and prices that are higher than those on the black market. While the provinces can set their own cannabis guidelines, a provincially run distributor purchases the cannabis from federally licensed producers and then allocates it to retail locations approved by the province. Ontario said last week that a bottleneck on the federal government's side is the reason the province will release only 50 cannabis licences later this summer. The federal government, however, has pushed back on this assertion, as have industry analysts and regulatory bodies in other provinces. Bill Blair, federal Minister for Border Protection and Organized Crime Reduction, said in a statement, "With the notable exception of Ontario, the rest of the country has made steady progress in displacing the illicit market with licensed and regulated retail stores."