By Greg Fry

Marijuana manufacturing plant to create 100 jobs in Kamloops once things get rolling

Mar 22, 2018 | 4:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — An Alberta-based marijuana grower with plans to set up a manufacturing plant in Kamloops is going to provide a nice boost in employment in the River City

Sundial Growers of Olds, Alberta announced earlier this week it had signed a deal with the Alliance of Beverage Licensees, or ABLE BC, to supply BC with 20 million grams of cannabis and related products once consumer marijuana use is legalized.

The company said it will begin supplying BC from its Alberta facility, but shift production to a new facility in Kamloops once that becomes licensed and operational.

“The number of jobs changes by phase. So, the first phase will probably be looking at 15-20 for the extraction facility,” says Sundial’s Chief Marketing and Product Officer Ryan Hellard. “When we are looking at phase two, cultivation, that’s 60,000 square feet and will employ somehwere between 30 to 40 individuals and then once we’re fully up and running – extraction, cultivation, and distribution – it will be approximately 100 full-time employees.”

He says he isn’t able to divulge the exact location of the facility due to “security” reasons,  but notes it will be located within city limits.

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So, why Kamloops?

“We liked the location of the city. We thought it would be a great place for us to distribute our product to our BC customers. We like the central location of it,” says Hellard. “Additionally, we like the size of the city. Typically when we go to set up an operation we look for cities that can provide a good labour pool but also aren’t too large where travel and cost of things becomes more prohibitive.”

As for when the cannabis facility will start production, he says they already have a building on their property where in the next 90 to 120 days Sundial will begin to outfit the facility for extraction purposes.

“And that’s for the initial 10,000 square feet. We expect that will be up and running by the fourth quarter of 2018. The second phase, which will be an additional 60,000 square feet of cultivation, we expect to have that up and running by the second quarter of 2019.”

Hellard adds the company will use “several different tools to make sure that the smell is reduced” once production starts.

“We have carbon filters, we also recycle air to have a closed system. All of this is to ensure that we meet Health Canada’s regulations that put strict controls around odour emissions.”

Kamloops isn’t Sundial’s first foray into marijuana growing.

Right now it has a facility in Airdrie Alberta, about 15 minutes north of Calgary. Sundial is also in the process of constructing a 500,000 square foot facility in Olds, Alberta.