A Central Saanich dairy farm previously known for a pungent compost facility is being eyed as the site of a $500-million licensed marijuana-growing operation.
Shawn Galbraith is planning a five- to seven-year project that envisions 21 greenhouses on 36 acres of Stanhope Dairy Farm. If all goes to plan, the facility would become one of the largest marijuana facilities in Canada.
Galbraith previously built a concrete bunker on Lochside Drive, adjacent to Michell’s Farm, to house a Health Canada-approved cannabis operation.
Galbraith, who owns Evergreen Medicinal Supply Inc., is purchasing the Stanhope farm on Old East Road, and has Health Canada approval to build a single 150,000-square-foot, $25-million greenhouse.
That would be more than double the size of the Tilray marijuana production facility in Nanaimo. Tilray, which employs 200 people, is B.C.’s largest medical pot producer.
“It’s an important project. I can’t emphasize how important it is for the region,” said Galbraith, a 55-year-old former contractor who wants to be a big player in the country’s cannabis industry once the drug is legalized in July.
Read more at the Times Colonist (Katie DeRosa)
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