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Brokers planning to dip their toes into a new line of business shouldn’t do so without first developing a sizeable base of knowledge about the risks their clients will face and the coverage options available on the market. For the emerging commercial cannabis industry, three heavyweights with years of experience in the sector already behind them are ready to offer their expertise during a webinar on September 20 – just in time for legalization.
Two of the experts, lawyers Jill Shore and Matthew Bujar from Dolden Wallace Folick LLP, have a critical legal perspective to help guide brokers entering the cannabis space.
“My involvement has mostly been in the drafting of policy, so wordings for different insurers who want to start underwriting cannabis businesses, and working through what they want to cover and what they don’t want to cover, as well as other things that they should be thinking about,” Shore told Insurance Business.
On the other hand, Bujar has primarily been involved with handling claims involving issues associated with cannabis grow-ops and property losses that have been tied to cannabis.
“I’ve also presented on seminars involving the legislative reform that’s occurred in terms of the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations as well as the MMAR, its predecessor, on several occasions,” he said, highlighting why it’s important for brokers and other professionals to know the laws around cannabis back to front. “We have to have an understanding as to how the marketplace is changing and an understanding of the laws associated with it because there are some fairly technical requirements – particularly for the licensed producers talking about the new legislative regime – and we want to make sure that there’s always going to be compliance with those from our insured’s standpoint.”
The expertise of an insurance provider who’s been active in the cannabis sector is also valuable for brokers, and will be represented on the webinar’s panel by Carlos Centeno, branch manager of Cansure’s Toronto office.
“I started penetrating the licensed producer market about three years ago. During my tenure with my previous employer, we had about 70% of the market in Canada in terms of property for licensed producers,” said Centeno, adding that he’s also had a hand in creating bespoke policies for licensed producers on the property side, including extensions like contamination and infestation, and other related policy products. “As part of my duties, I’ve also interacted with the important stakeholders, such as reinsurers, in supporting our endeavours with respect to capacity for these particular risks.”
The complexity of the cannabis market means brokers should take all the help they can get, especially as regulations around the industry continue to take shape.
“There is new legislation coming out virtually every day,” said Shore, pointing to evolving legislation and regulations across the provinces – and those aren’t the only rules that will govern the industry. “The federal regulations aren’t very old. In addition to new laws, there are guidance documents being written by the various provinces and the federal government about how to understand and interpret the new laws, so this is something that is changing daily. From there, we still haven’t seen what the municipalities are doing and that’s a whole extra layer of regulation that is going to be affecting the businesses.”
Jill Shore, Matthew Bujar, and Carlos Centeno will be leading the webinar, “Capitalizing on Cannabis: An In-Depth Conversation” on September 20. Click here to register and to find for more information.
