The New Brunswick Liquor Corporation has called for retail spaces to distribute marijuana in British Columbia.

The company is searching for 3,000-square-foot spaces to spread throughout 15 BC communities that will not be associated with the corporation’s liquor chains. According to the ad, these spaces should be well on their way by May 31, 2018.

Back in September, BC declared that a different corporation—one other than Crown—would arrange for the shift in the sale of recreational marijuana. While confirmation on who would be overseeing the distribution of marijuana has not been confirmed, NB Liquor has been a large part in deciding what will be done in relation to bringing marijuana into the retail environment.

“We have to be ready for the July 2018 deadline and issuing tenders for the potential retail space allows us to do this,” said Sarah Bustard, spokeswoman of the Department of Finance.

With both antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, essential oils can be used in more ways than one. From boosting your immune system to aiding with digestion, essential oils provide our bodies with a plethora of health benefits, including the ability the combat painful headaches.

Here are five essential oils that help to relieve headache pain:

1. Lavender oil: Lavender oil is used to help with a number of issues, including anxiety, depression, and, of course, reducing headache tension and pain. Due to the curative properties that quickly absorb into the skin, lavender rapidly interacts with the central nervous system as an effective calming agent of stress triggers.
2. Rosemary oil: Rosemary oil helps to reduce the pain of a headache by improving circulation. Plus, according to a 2008 study, researchers found that rosemary oil also have anti-inflammatory properties that helps with headache pressure and tension.
3. Peppermint oil: Along with relieving nausea and upset stomaches, peppermint oil is also known for alleviating headache pain. Applied topically to the forehead, this essential oil is the most popular for headache relief.
4. Eucalyptus oil: If you suffer from sinus headaches, eucalyptus oil works to release the tension triggered by blocked sinuses.
5. Chamomile oil: Given that chamomile tea works to relax the body, and helps reduce the symptoms associated with anxiety and depression, many people use chamomile oil to treat a painful headache that is triggered by anxiety and stress.

The recent purchase of Whole Foods Market by Amazon, the world’s largest internet company by revenue, may have “shaken up” the grocery business, but it also left some of the natural and organic food store chain’s customers and vendors wondering if products on the shelves would change.

In late August, at the announcement of their merger they stated, “the two companies will together pursue the vision of making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone.” They followed suit on this announcement by slashing the price on some basic items, and promoting reduced pricing on certain produce on World Vegetarian Day but they also plan to adopt supermarket standards that are more conventional.

As reported in the news media, by April 2018, as part of its plan to decentralize operations, Whole Foods will no longer allow “brand advocates” to promote their products in-store, check inventory levels or assist in merchandising which follows the mass supermarket model. Additionally, whereas in the past some vendors could “pitch” their own local stores to carry their products, almost all purchasing decisions will revert back to their Austin, TX headquarters.

Before the merger, Whole Foods’ declining sales were partially attributed to their policy of allowing local suppliers’ products to be sold regionally, and it was also claimed this was distracting to employees and inefficient. This move to the more conventional central listing and purchasing process practiced by traditional supermarket chains may bring into question the availability of some natural or organic products that were locally sourced and sold in regional stores.

New research on the buying habits of the Millennial generation has led to some surprising discoveries; and retailers may have to change some marketing focus to capture this generation of consumers.

Like their grandparents (aka Baby Boomers) the Millennials are a very large demographic, but one of the main differences is their diversity of needs and spending habits. As revealed in the consumer survey conducted by global management consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting, Millennials share some buying habits with previous generations of younger consumers, yet they have also diverged from “the norm” in that within this demographic are several “sub-groups” of consumers.

According to Rob Haslehurst, Managing Director of L.E.K.’s Consumer Products and Retail practice and co-author of the report, “Retailers Play the Generation Game: Lessons from Adapting to Millennials,” these consumers “are sometimes treated as a monolithic group, although they’re not, and it’s often assumed that they behave the way young consumers have always behaved, which is a half-truth at best.”

L.E.K.’s survey of 3,800 American consumers included 2,200 Millennials and 200 teenagers at the threshold of the next generation “Gen Z.” They explored the preferences and behaviours of the unique Millennial sub-groups, and compared these to how Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers behaved when they were the same age.

The largest differences were seen in the Millennials with kids, and the ones without, although differences in education level also weighed in. Perhaps not so surprising, L.E.K.’s survey found that Millennials with children and at least a college education spent considerably more than average in several categories. Most notable of these were in purchases for the home (a whopping 68 % more) but also in footwear (56 % more), electronics (52 %), and for apparel and personal care (49 % each). In the U.S.A. research has shown that Millennials spend 1.2 trillion dollars annually, so these percentages are eye-opening.

What else did they find that was helpful to retailers?

1. Millennials will spend more on convenience than previous generations, such as prepared foods, while cutting costs through ride sharing, or buying when free shipping is included. A creative retailer should focus on “value-added” purchase incentives.
2. They spend far more time researching purchases—one hour more than Baby Boomers in most cases! For retailers, this means a concise, user-friendly online shopping experience is essential to attract more of these buyers.
3. They are more socially conscious. Therefore, they prefer to buy a brand that is honestly authentic as well as “kind to the environment” or the community. Promotional tie-ins to non-profit businesses or that otherwise aid minorities or the community are more attractive to them.

In summary, retailers have always had to adjust to changing generations, but in the case of the Millennials they should also consider targeting their sub-groups, not just the age group, and to utilize technology to personalize the targeting of Millennials by using location-based marketing, social media and other apps which also may add convenience to the Millennial buyer.

Although Canada adopted formal organic standards federally in 2009, Ontario, its largest province has lagged behind in regulating organic food and agriculture. All that may soon change, however.

Bill 153 had its first reading carried in Ontario’s Legislative Assembly last month and seeks to enact the Organic Products Act, 2017. The Act specifically “prohibits the marketing and labelling of products as ‘organic’ unless they have been certified as organic in accordance with the Act. It also requires that the Minister assigned the administration of the Act create a register of all products that are certified as organic, and that the Minister periodically update the register.”

Once this bill becomes law, producers and distributors of organic foods and products to be sold in Ontario will have to comply with regulations for farming or manufacturing practices to be able to claim their goods are organic (biologique in French). This should be well-received by Ontario consumers who buy many foods and products labelled “organic”, yet without consistent regulation there’s more opportunity for consumer fraud or confusion when buying organic. Ontario’s organic market is the largest of all and continues to grow by 10% each year.

The introduction of this bill is good news for the Organic Council of Canada which called out Ontario for not regulating its organics industry in a report as recently as July of this year, while also praising Quebec’s leadership.

Other Canadian provinces already adopted the federal standards, notably British Columbia (1993 voluntarily, 2016-2018 by act), Manitoba (2013), New Brunswick (2014) and Nova Scotia (2015). Quebec enacted its first act in 1996 and regulated its organic industry by 2006 and its system is considered to be one of the strongest. So far, the rest of the provinces and territories do not regulate organics.

The Organic Council of Canada states on their web site; “Organic regulation will create a more level playing field for organic businesses in Ontario and protect consumers.”

The Council also urges all provinces and territories to adopt two more recommendations in addition to regulation; to create an improved data collections system for organics, and to increase organic policies and programs across all jurisdictions.

A pilot study was recently published which claims that increased physical activity helped boost breast cancer survivors’ cognitive function.

It’s known that increased physical activity improves cognition in cognitively impaired or even healthy adults, but the benefits for cancer survivors were undetermined. Many breast cancer survivors report poor memory or reduced ability to concentrate after treatments indicating a decline in brain function.

The study was conducted by a team of 9 physicians and specialists and was designed to examine the effect of a 12-week program of increased physical activity on half of the group of women, compared with a control group of the other half, who were given articles for reading that addressed nutrition, women’s health and cerebral health. The randomized trials selected physical activities for each participant based on individual interests and capabilities while having them wear devices such as the Fitbit One activity tracker to record minutes of activity.

Researchers sent the data collected to extract activity levels for analysis while also providing encouragement to participants through phone calls and emails. Results concluded that engaging in at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity weekly showed more than double the improvements in brain processing speed compared to the control group. Further, women who were two years or less from cancer diagnosis were four times more likely to show improvement in how fast the brain could process information after exercise.

One of the lead researchers is Sheri Hartman, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, and co-director of the diet and physical activity shared resource at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. She stated, “The women who participated in the physical activity intervention experienced a significant improvement in cognitive processing speed and some improvements in their perceived mental abilities. This study supports the idea that exercise could be a way to help improve cognition among breast cancer survivors.”

This initial study was conducted on just 87 predominantly well-educated, non-Hispanic white women and researchers have stated that greater diversity in the cancer population is needed for more conclusive results.

In a move that was expected, and some say welcomed, Metro, the Quebec-based grocery chain and Jean Coutu, Quebec’s largest pharmacy retailer announced their merger. It was expected because of increased competition in Canadian grocery and pharmacy retail markets by chains like Walmart and Costco. While the takeover by Loblaw Companies Ltd. of Shoppers Drug Mart in 2014, which operates as Pharmaprix in Quebec may have strengthened Metro’s resolve to respond to competition through corporate growth.

Some say the deal will be welcomed by Quebecer’s who will be happy the merger is within the province, unlike what happened to Rona, purchased by American-owned Lowes, or St. Hubert’s Chicken bought by Ontario-based Cara, owners of long-time rival Swiss Chalet and several other restaurant chains.

The pharmacy chain will operate as a separate division of Metro and is expected to be headed by its current CEO Francois Coutu who, along with his father and founder Jean Coutu, have both repeatedly rebuffed suggestions that the family-owned company was for sale in the past. But at the recent news conference announcing the merger, Jean Coutu said, “Sometimes you have to forget your ego and try to combine with a real friend.”

Metro CEO Eric La Fleche said, “We need this size to have economies of scale and efficiency to fight with the large players that we currently face,” likely referring to their major competitors and Amazon’s recent entry into the grocery retail business with its takeover of Whole Foods Market.

The $4.5-billion merger of Metro’s grocery stores in Ontario and Quebec, and Jean Coutu’s pharmacies mostly in Quebec, with a few stores in Ontario and New Brunswick, will certainly strengthen their collective footprint in the province’s grocery and pharmacy markets. The total number of stores will rise to 1300+, and employ nearly 90,000 workers with annual earnings expected to be about $16-billion.

The merger will still require regulatory approval and assent from at least two-thirds of the shareholders of Jean Coutu Group. A special meeting will be held in November to vote on the deal, but the Coutu family and senior directors collectively hold about 93% of the vote and have all stated they will support the sale to Metro.

According to the Financial Post, after the merger announcement “Jean Coutu’s shares ended the day 6.3 per cent higher and Metro’s spiked close to 8.8 per cent.” The merger will likely conclude in early 2018.

Natural health enthusiasts for years have hailed the benefits of drinking various teas for weight loss but now scientific research not only supports that claim, it explains exactly how that can happen.

A study published in the European Journal of Nutrition has discovered that both black and green tea influenced the ratio of gut bacteria in animals. Specifically, the percentage of intestinal bacteria associated with obesity decreased, while bacteria associated with lean body mass increased.

Previous research showed that the polyphenols in green tea improved energy, but this new study reveals that black tea polyphenols stimulate the growth of certain gut bacteria and the formation of short-chain fatty acids, a type of bacterial metabolite known to influence energy metabolism in the liver which can lead to weight loss.

Susanne Henning, the study’s lead author and adjunct professor at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition said, “Our new findings suggest that black tea, through a specific mechanism through the gut microbiome, may also contribute to good health and weight loss in humans. The results suggest that both green and black teas are prebiotics, substances that induce the growth of good microorganisms that contribute to a person’s well-being.”

The study was conducted on four different groups of mice, all of which were given a high-sugar diet. One group was also given a low-fat diet, a second a high-fat diet, a third high-fat and green tea extract and the fourth group was given a high-fat diet and a black tea extract. After four weeks the mice were weighed and the ones given either green or black tea had weight that dropped to the same levels as those given just a low-fat diet, high-sugar.

After collecting samples from the mice’s large intestines (to measure bacteria content) and liver tissues (to measure fat deposits) researchers found that the mice that consumed either type of tea extract had less of the type of bacteria associated with obesity and more of the bacteria associated with lean body mass.

However, only the mice that consumed black tea extract had an increase in a type of bacteria called Pseudobutyrivibrio which showed that the weight loss benefits were different than for green tea. Green tea is easily absorbed in the stomach and small intestine and can more directly influence the liver. Black tea molecules are too large to be absorbed in this way and instead remain in the intestine where they appear to boost the growth of “friendly” gut bacteria (probiotics) and help form metabolites that control liver energy metabolism.

Although the research has only been conducted so far on rodents, this is exciting news for proponents of natural health alternatives for human weight loss, and also shows that both green and black tea have far more than just antioxidant benefits.

With 20 years of experience in sales and customer development, Joanne Hillion has been named the senior vice-president of customer development for Acosta Canada. With senior level roles for companies like Energizer and Mars Food Division, Hillion will bring her expertise to Acosta’s grocery customer development team with great promise.

“Joanne has led large sales teams and successfully and consistently delivered growth and profit performance in a challenging marketplace,” says president Brent Scowen. “Her multi-category and capability-building experience will be great assets to our organization. We are very excited to have her on board to elevate our high-performance customer teams in driving remarkable results for our clients.”

In addition, Warren Paisley has been appointed as the vice-president of customer development for the company. Like Hillion, Paisley has acquired over 20 years of experience in brand-building and multiple executive roles for companies like Mosiac’s Labatt Integrated Team, Paisley will bring great knowledge with his extensive marketing background that Scowen is excited to tap into for Acosta’s growth.

“Warren is super passionate about building brands and people. He has had a remarkable track record of success in serving clients with breakthrough integrated campaigns that have engaged and inspired shoppers and realized remarkable results for clients. With his marking and shopper expertise and strong financial acumen he will bring lots of value-add to our clients’ businesses,” shares Scowen.

Legislation recently released a statement that will name Ontario as the first province to require the full disclosure of companies that make payments to doctors.

According to Eric Hoskins, the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, the public disclosure will enable patients with more information in order to make better, and more informed, decisions when it comes to their health care. “We are the first jurisdiction in Canada to undertake this, so I think that leadership by Ontario is important on an issue that I think resonates with all Canadians,” says Hoskins.

Payments such as paid meals, engagement fees, and travel expenses will all be subject to disclosure, that will be available via an online database to be accessible for all.

Earlier this year, many pharmaceutical companies released data that showed payments of almost $50 million to health-care organizations, which can cause concerns about the promotion of drugs. However, Hoskins ensures that these conflicts aren’t negative. “What we want to do is want to…present information so that patients and health providers and the industry can have a better understanding of the nature of the transactions that are taking place.”

While doctors are not allowed to accept payments in exchange for meetings or gifts, they are allowed to accept teaching support that can aid their patients.

In terms of the minimum payment that will require disclosure, regulations are still being put forward to decide on a fair number.

“We had a substantial consultation over the course of the summer and there was clear and broad support for the direction that we’re taking and the support for this proposed legislation. We’ll have that opportunity as we go forward…to continue the dialogue and continue the consultation and learn from other jurisdictions, but also hear from stakeholders. (Ambien) ”

Ontario will be following countries like the USA and Australia who have already been providing the transparency for patients.