Liberals and New Democrats in Ontario promise to reform the retail cannabis licensing system that they say is not working.

For Progressive Conservatives, this is a problem the market will solve on its own. Cannabis businesses exist in some communities in Ontario; however, other municipalities have completely banned these shops. Therefore, there is an inequity in access to this product in the province.

Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca said it is an important issue in many communities during a stop in his campaign in west Toronto on Saturday.

Del Duca spoke about places where authorities impose a certain distance between businesses that sell cannabis products.

He stressed that we have the same goal, adding that municipalities will have a say in this process. According to him, integrating retail cannabis trade in the same sector is a side effect of the strategy adopted by the Progressive Conservative government when legalizing marijuana.

The previous Liberal government planned to open 40 government-run stores by 2018 and expand the network to 150 stores by 2020.

The Ford government adopted a different strategy because relying on a private system and added businesses would respond more effectively to demand. Since then, hundreds of businesses have opened their doors, some side by side.

Ford says cities have the right to decide whether to allow businesses that sell cannabis products in retail. I leave it to the municipalities; no one knows their community better than the municipality, he said.

New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath believes municipalities need to be involved in retail cannabis sales decisions.

The New Democratic Party says it wants to give cities a greater role in decision-making when it comes to the geographic distribution of cannabis stores.