Before the last federal election, the idea
of openly growing pot in a field would have been dismissed as reefer madness —
and illegal, too. But the Liberals won that contest, formed government, and
their campaign promise to legalize recreational marijuana came to fruition this
month.
The legislation has also spawned the first
proposed (and legal) outdoor cannabis farm in the Ottawa Valley.
Mark Spear, a 34-year-old Ottawa native who has worked in the cannabis industry since 2014, wants to convert a 225-acre former horse and haymaking farm near Burnstown, southeast of Renfrew, into a “canna-tourism” complex that would grow more than 100,000 cannabis plants by 2020, run workshops on how to grow and cook with marijuana, and allow visitors to relax at a pot-friendly spa.
