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ROCK CREEK, BC, Feb. 23, 2021 /CNW/ - SpeakEasy Cannabis Club Ltd. (CSE: EASY) (Frankfurt: 39H) (the "Company" or "SpeakEasy") a holder of a federal licence to cultivate, process and sell cannabis under the Cannabis Act, is happy to announce that it has appointed Charles Williams, Ph.D as an additional independent director to its board of directors (the "Board").
As part of its growth strategy, SpeakEasy added critical talent to its leadership in 2020 including CEO Malcolm Davidson, a veteran of public company finance, management and marketing.
"I'm grateful to be a part of this team and its quality-first culture," said Davidson. "Looking ahead, the vision for our shareholders is to leverage SpeakEasy's knowledge, decades of experience and unique combination of outdoor and indoor cultivation to become a highly-profitable, leading supplier of exceptional quality cannabis."
Mr. Bill Fleming was elected as an independent director in February 2020 and as Chairman of the Board in January 2021. Mr. Fleming was previously President of Mernova Medicinal Inc, which recently sold to Switzerland-based Creso Pharma Inc. and is currently the President & CEO for Halucenex Life Sciences Inc., a company which specializes in researching, developing, and conducting clinical trials on the medical benefits and licensing of novel psychedelic compounds including psilocybin, LSD and MDMA.
The Company is also pleased to announce that Mr. Ian Waddell has been appointed to SpeakEasy's Advisory Board. It is expected that Mr. Waddell will be appointed to the Board upon receipt of security clearance from Health Canada as an independent director.
Charles Williams, Ph.D.
Dr. Williams currently holds full security clearance and obtained a Ph.D. from McGill university in organic chemistry and thus brings a unique perspective to any question. Charles brings extensive regulatory experience having over 25 years of direct regulatory experience. Charles operated a consulting firm for over 20 years serving clients in a wide variety of regulatory aspects from environmental regulations, food, compliance and pesticide registrations. Having served the past 3 plus years as Director of Quality Assurance he has overseen all regulatory aspects of Mernova Medicinal Inc.. He has overseen Mernova Medicinal Inc. from the initial Health Canada application under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purpose Regulations (ACMPR) to Mernova being licencing for processing and sales under Health Canada's Cannabis Act and Regulations. He brings also experience and training in Good Laboratory Practice, Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Production Practices.
Ian G. Waddell Q.C.
Mr. Waddell has a Masters of Laws degree from the London School of Economics (UK) and practiced as both a Crown Attorney and Defence Counsel. As the Director of the Storefront Lawyers (VCLAS), he litigated the first class action suit in Canadian law history. In 2013, he was appointed Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) by the Attorney General of British Columbia. He served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament for over 14 years, first representing the Vancouver Kingsway riding then Port Moody-Coquitlam. Later, he was elected to the British Columbia Legislature where he served as: Minister of Tourism, Culture & Small Business; Minister of Environment, Lands & Parks; and Minister on Intergovernmental Affairs. As minister, he started the successful 2010 Winter Olympic bid and grew BC Film into a billion dollar industry. As Special Counsel to the Royal (Berger) Commission of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, he gained extensive knowledge and valuable insights into Aboriginal and energy issues whereby his experience and expertise was instrumental in drafting sections of the repatriated Canadian constitution regarding Aboriginal rights (Section 35).
As Chair of the Fraser Basin Board, he collaborated with public and private partners including First Nations to produce a Report Card on the environmental state of the basin and has been a member of numerous Canadian delegations including Kyoto 6 and the transfer of Hong Kong as well as issues dealing with the Middle East. He has taught at SFU and UBC and is a visiting scholar at Massey College, University of Toronto. Ian's a longtime member of the Board of Governors for the Arts Club of Vancouver and the Heritage Vancouver Society, a published author (A Thirst to Die For, Take the Torch) and a documentary filmmaker (Why Young People Don't Vote) with experience as a TV and radio commentator. He currently heads his own film and government relations company.
In conjunction with these appointments, the Company also announces the grant of an aggregate of 300,000 incentive stock options (the "Options") to Directors, such Options to be granted in accordance with applicable laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Coronavirus Impact in 2020
Like all businesses in Canada, SpeakEasy's operations were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company implemented protocols to help prevent potential spread of the virus. The transition was largely seamless, as SpeakEasy's facilities have always been maintained to a high level of cleanliness and free from contamination. As a result, SpeakEasy has recorded no COVID-19 related infections to date. The Company will continue implementing its COVID-19 protocols for the foreseeable future.
About SpeakEasy Cannabis Club Ltd.
SpeakEasy Cannabis Club Ltd. holds a cultivation, processing and sales licence issued by Health Canada under the Cannabis Act. SpeakEasy owns 290 acres of land in Rock Creek, British Columbia, and leverages five generations of farming experience in B.C. as well as its favourable location to grow and process high-quality cannabis products at low cost. SpeakEasy cultivates small batch, high quality craft cannabis at scale in its 63,200 square foot indoor cannabis complex and has completed its harvest of its 60-acre outdoor field. Total yearly production of cannabis flower and biomass is projected to be in excess of 70,000 kilograms per year once in full production.
On behalf of the Board of the Directors
Forward Looking Statement
This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SpeakEasy's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur.
Forward-looking statements in this document include statements concerning SpeakEasy's expectations concerning the appointment of Mr. Waddell to the Board and its intent to produce and sell high quality craft cannabis, and all other statements that are not statements of historical fact.
Although SpeakEasy believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.
Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; COVID-19, adverse industry events; future legislative and regulatory developments involving cannabis; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; the cannabis and hemp industries and markets in Canada and generally; the demand for CBD distillate, cannabis and cannabis related products, the ability of SpeakEasy to implement its business strategies; competition; the ability of SpeakEasy to obtain and retain all applicable licences under the Cannabis Act and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.
The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.
SOURCE Speakeasy Cannabis Club Ltd.
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