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The head of Aurora Cannabis says the closure of five facilities — including in Saskatoon  — as well as the layoffs of hundreds of employees across the country is “another example of our commitment to deliver greater efficiency” throughout the cannabis business.

Aurora Cannabis this week announced a new round of staff reductions and plans to shut five facilities over the next two quarters, as the COVID-19 pandemic pummels the cash-crunched cannabis industry.

The Edmonton-based company has started plans to close operations at five of what it classified as “smaller scale facilities”: Aurora Prairie in Saskatoon, Aurora Mountain in Cremona, Alta., Aurora Ridge in Markham, Ont., Aurora Vie in Pointe-Claire, Que. and Aurora Eau in Lachute, Que. The company said it will focus on production and manufacturing at its “larger scale and highly efficient sites.”

The decision to shutter the Saskatoon facility comes approximately two years after the first hostile takeover in Canada’s marijuana industry. Aurora Cannabis in November 2017 launched its hostile takeover bid after CanniMed Therapeutic Inc.’s board rebuffed what it described at the time as an unsolicited offer. The bid came less than eight months before federal legislation made recreational pot legal.