LFP LONGFORM: Boom times here in Canada’s cannabis belt

Already employing around 2,300 workers, Southwestern Ontario’s cannabis industry is adding hundreds more jobs as pot producers build out their operations in response to a country-wide supply shortage and anticipated global demand.

More than 15 licensed marijuana growers, including some of the largest in Canada, have Southwestern Ontario operations, ranging from greenhouses and indoor growing facilities to processing plants and farms.

Proximity to 400-series highways, an abundance of affordable commercial space and greenhouses, a large labour pool, co-operative municipal councils and some of the country’s best farming conditions have helped the region carve out a niche as Canada’s cannabis belt.

Now, many of the cannabis companies that set up operations prior to Canada legalizing recreational marijuana last fall are embarking on expansion sprees, while new ones are putting down roots, creating hundreds of jobs in a region stung from the loss of many manufacturing employers.

“So many companies are just running to scale up,” said Maurizio Calconi, the head of recruiting for Cannabis Compliance, an industry consulting firm.

“This is an exciting industry to be in. The growth in this space is incredible.”

A quick look at two Southwestern Ontario counties – Bruce and Essex – shows how cannabis has the ability to reshape entire communities.

Producer 7Acres has become Bruce County’s second-largest employer – behind only Bruce Power, the operator of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station – with 600 employees at its greenhouse operation in Kincardine.

How did a pot grower end up in Lake Huron cottage country?

Kincardine was the only place with the required greenhouse space available and the capability to power a massive pot-growing operation, said John Fowler, president and founder of Supreme, the parent company of 7Acres.

“We also liked on paper the relative sizes of Kincardine, Port Elgin and the surrounding communities from a labour pool perspective, knowing that we were going to scale up hundreds of employees,” he said.

Supreme is expanding its footprint to Goderich, where the company is building a $14-million cannabis genetic research and development centre that will employ dozens more people once it opens by year’s end, Fowler said.

“We really think we have an opportunity to put Goderich on the map globally as a hub for cannabis agriculture,” he said, noting the facility will be the largest standalone cannabis research centre in the country.

In Essex County, cannabis producer Aphria employs nearly 650 workers at its massive greenhouse operation in Leamington, the former home of Heinz Ketchup. In March, the company held a job fair to fill 130 positions.

In London, licensed producer Beleave is renovating the former Garden Gallery greenhouse on Wellington Road, where the company plans to hire 240 workers. The city is also home to three cannabis retail stores – the only legal brick-and-mortar dispensaries in Southwestern Ontario – that have created more than 120 jobs.

Health Canada’s announcement last year that it was lifting its ban on outdoor cultivation is also a boon for jobs in Southwestern Ontario, one of the nation’s richest farm belts, prized for its fertile soil and long growing season.

Producer 48North became the first company in Ontario to receive an outdoor cultivation licence for its Brantford-area farm, where the company plans to hire 200 workers to harvest and process this season’s crop.

And it’s not just large-scale producers that are hiring.

Medical marijuana producer Avana now employs 20 people at its St. Thomas operation, with that number expected to reach 50.

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In addition to buying a nearby building to process cannabis and extract oils, the company has also applied to Health Canada, the federal pot regulator, for an outdoor cultivation licence for its property near the municipal airport.

“We’re actively seeking people in anything from production to operations, analytical chemists, formulation scientists, there’s a variety of different roles that we’re looking to fill right now,” Avana chief executive Zubin Jasavala said.

A warm embrace from pro-business city officials was a major factor in Avana’s decision to locate in St. Thomas, he said.

“And that was not something we felt with every municipality that we had spoken with,” Jasavala said, adding the company holds regular meetings with staff from city hall and the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp.

“I think they recognize here that there’s a tremendous opportunity in terms of creating employment.”

Nearly all of the cannabis companies with operations in Southwestern Ontario told The Free Press they are actively hiring or plan on bringing on more workers for anticipated expansions. Those job openings cover a variety of positions ranging from entry-level production jobs to management roles.

There are 80 listings for London-area cannabis jobs on Indeed.ca, a jobs-listing website, that pay anywhere from $32,000 to more than $120,000. The vacancies include regulatory affairs manager, HVAC worker, social media specialist, extraction technician, research scientist, quality control technician and more than a dozen other roles.

The cannabis sector employed more than 10,000 workers across Canada in 2018, but could add as many as 150,000 jobs in the coming years, industry insiders say.

Because the industry is so new – Canada is the second country to legalize recreational marijuana, after Uruguay – some companies have struggled to find employees with the right skills and relevant experience. But that’s quickly changing, said Calconi of Cannabis Compliance, whose firm helps companies recruit qualified candidates.

Labour shortages exist mostly in production jobs, especially those in remote locations, but pot firms aren’t having any problem filling roles in finance, human resources and marketing, Calconi said.

The cannabis sector draws many of its workers from industries like consumer packaging, alcohol and pharmaceutical, he added.

Post-secondary schools are also responding to the growing industry by rolling out programs, courses and certificates related to the cannabis sector.

At WeedMD, a licensed producer with operations in Aylmer and Strathroy, the company has been bringing on new employees weekly as it expands its greenhouse operation in Strathroy and prepares for outdoor cultivation, vice-president of people Josephine DesLauriers said.

The company has also created a pool of centralized workers who can fill multiple roles, she said.

“One day they can do a shift in the grow, cultivation or agriculture, another they could be working on the automation line doing packaging or processing.”

WeedMD has had some trouble filling jobs in the skilled trades, DesLauriers said.

“Any area where you have shortages outside the cannabis space you’re going to have the same shortages inside the industry.”

Industry insiders say the stigma of working in the cannabis industry – and fears that it could lead to hassles when travelling outside of Canada – are now largely gone.

“For a period of time there was concern around crossing the border, which also impacted our ability to recruit at varying levels,” DesLauriers said.

For many rank-and-file employees at the region’s cannabis companies, a sense of blazing a trail in a new – and sometimes misunderstood – industry is a source of great pride. That pride was on display when Southwestern Ontario’s first marijuana retail store, Central Cannabis at 666 Wonderland Rd., opened on April 1.

Jason Geldhof, who works in processing at 7Acres, made the one-hour drive from his home in Goderich to be the first in line at 7 a.m. Sporting a 7Acres hat, Geldhof bought seven grams of one of his company’s high-end strains of marijuana.

Fowler said Geldhof’s passion for the product he grows is common at 7Acres, where the leadership team fosters a sense of ownership by conveying to all staffers how their work has a direct impact on company’s success.

“We hire for passion at 7Acres,” Fowler said. “We’re hiring people that really care about what we’re doing.”

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GETTING SCHOOLED ON CANNABIS

Inside five shipping containers surrounded by barbed wire fencing, students tend to cannabis plants at Niagara College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus.

The students are enrolled in the commercial cannabis production program, an eight-month program that gives students hands-on experience cultivating marijuana.

Launched in September 2018, the program was created in response to the growing demand from Canada’s legion of licensed pot producers for skilled workers, program co-ordinator Bill MacDonald said.

“This program came about because of licensed producers coming to myself and saying, ‘Hey, we need help, we need growers,’” MacDonald said.

Students learn about plant nutrition, lighting techniques, pest management, interpreting data and financial statements, industry regulations, packaging requirements, security protocols and other relevant skills.

Although other Canadian colleges and universities offer courses, certificates and programs related to cannabis, Niagara College is the only post-secondary institution where students can grow cannabis on campus, MacDonald said, adding they also intern one day a week at an area pot producer.

Most of the program’s students have science degrees or come from Niagara’s greenhouse and horticulture program, but engineers and even a doctor have enrolled, he said.

The program’s first batch of graduates, who completed the program in April, went on to land jobs as master growers, assistant growers and working in research and development at various marijuana producers, MacDonald said.

There are already plans to expand the program, he said, noting demand for its graduates will keep growing as more of them prove themselves in the industry.

“We want to be the gold standard.”

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EMPLOYEES AT LICENSED MARIJUANA PRODUCERS IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

London

• Indiva (indoor grow): 50
• AgMedica Bioscience (processing and packaging plant): 20
• Tilray (processing plant): 163

Thorndale 

• JC Green (indoor grow): 10

Aylmer

• WeedMD (indoor grow): 170 at both sites (Aylmer and Strathroy)

St. Thomas

• Avana (indoor grow): 20

Strathroy

• Eve and Co. (greenhouse) 95

Leamington

• Aphria (greenhouse): 650
• Natura Naturals

Petrolia

• Enniskillen: 191

Langton

• MariCann (indoor grow): 62

Brantford

• 48North (indoor grow): 48

Brant County

• 48North (outdoor farm): 20

Paris

• Emblem Corp.: 77

Exeter

• Aurora (greenhouse)

Kincardine

• 7Acres (greenhouse): 600

Chatham

• AgMedica Bioscience (indoor grow): 160

Stratford

• Greenseal Cannabis Co. (indoor grow): 28