Alberta OK’s 13 pot companies

Aurora Cannabis is building a massive marijuana production plant in Medicine Hat, but it isn’t the biggest player in the industry

Medicine Hat will soon be home to one of the largest marijuana greenhouses in the world, but will only be a relatively small presence in a rapidly growing sector.

A survey of just the 13 companies that signed initial supply agreements with Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission on Thursday found Aurora Cannabis is among six planning to add about 1 million square feet each in the immediate future.

That’s leading local economic developers to consider that with so much growth in an industry, a short era of megaproject announcements in the developing sector may be closing.

Once the dust settles however, and more is known about the size and scope of the Canadian cannabis market, there may be local opportunities for mid to small producers, said Ryan Jackson, the head of Invest Medicine Hat.

“Production is definitely being ramped up,” said Jackson, whose office helped entice Aurora to Medicine Hat in rapid negotiations that took about six months from stage one to goahead on the $130-million project.

“The large players are going to play out the way they’ll play out, but craft producers, similar to the breweries, will still start up the 55,000 square-foot facilities, smaller facilities that will try to carve out their niche.”

Medicine Hat may be better able to serve that portion of the industry anyway.

Since April, city councillors and utility officials have said they would be cautious about seeking out another Aurora-sized project considering the size of the 42megawatt power supply agreement for the greenhouse.

That announcement, including 400 jobs, was the largest local economic development announcement in 10 years.

Yet it’s only a small fraction of the money being spent on projects across Canada.

Leading the way in terms of acreage is Aurora Cannabis, which is poised to begin construction on its “flagship” 1.2-million-square foot “Aurora Sun” facility in the Box Springs Business Park.

Along with the 800,000-square-foot Aurora Sky facility in Leduc, which produced its first crop in June, the company could produce 250 tonnes of cannabis per year in Alberta.

That would feed domestic and global medicinal markets, as well as a recreational markets set to begin in mid-October.

It announced Thursday it will allocate 25,000 kilograms to the AGLC for the first six months after pot becomes legal this fall.

Aurora CEO Terry Booth pumped up his company’s local content in a release addressing the AGLC contract, calling his company a “pre-eminent provider of medical cannabis in Alberta, with a dominant market share” and employing “more Albertans than all other licensed producers combined.

“We look forward to working with the AGLC and becoming a key part of the province’s cannabis infrastructure to ensure Alberta’s successful entry into the burgeoning consumer cannabis market.”

Market analysts consider Aurora to be second in size to Ontario-based Canopy Growth. That company currently has 2.4 million square feet ready to be cultivated, and plans are in place to add another 3.2 million square feet — equal to about 50 football fields.

Aphria, CannTrust, Maricann and MedRelief are also in advanced planning or have completed phases of construction to boost square footage to the 1 million mark.

Those companies, located mostly in southern Ontario or the Niagara region, are among 13 firms that will contribute to the initial stock of cannabis sold in Alberta starting in October.