that's right this is one of camp it's empty now but soon this room will be packed with marijuana plants I can see all of the work that's gone into this around me it's exciting to get up and running and be so close to a license to start cultivating Andrew Milne is in charge of the complex systems that will keep this 30,000 square foot cannabis production plant running smoothly Milne used to work in Colorado not in the pot business though he worked at a company that produced consumer electronics when he got a call from an old
friend asking him to move home to work at a cannabis startup I hesitated to be honest with you you know it's a new field and I had to think a little bit about actually mostly about leaving a steady job that I liked for a start-up but that hesitation didn't last long two weeks later I had all my possessions in a car and I was driving across Nebraska one of the founders of can Tex recruited mill we enticed him back to Canada even though he was looking for opportunities in Silicon Valley and there's a lot more
hiring to do can Tex has 16 employees at the production facility with plans to double that we get inundated with a lot of folks looking for employment in the cannabis industry these days it's a pretty sexy topic Canadian cannabis companies are on a hiring spree and larger companies need even more workers canopy growth wants to triple its workforce in the next two years from 1,000 to 3,000 right now it has 600 jobs to fill from grower plant trimmer and cultivation supervisor to beverage chemist and mobile app developer we actively reach out to candidates through different
sources and top people in the shoulder and see if there would be an interest in this sector Allison McMahon recruits new employees for cannabis companies she says the toughest people to find are cultivation experts there's only a small pool of people who have worked in a cultivation role whether that's a cultivation technician or a master cultivator within a cmp are within the medical regulations in the system a master grower makes as much as ninety three thousand dollars a year according to a survey by McMahon's company that's already up 14 percent from last year as the
stigma around pot fades and more people want in I think what's really intriguing is how a lot of people even in Alberta are looking at cannabis as potentially a more stable opportunity and a place to take their career long-term even compared to something like a more traditional oil and gas sector in Ontario Milne has found the startup experience he went searching for in the u.s. it's a reverse brain drain here you think of talent especially technical people generally going down to the States to pursue opportunities but you know the Canadian cannabis industry is so much
more developed in the industry down in the States now part of an industry that likely won't grow this much this vast again Jacquelyn Hansen CBC News well you might be surprised at who some of the new cannabis workers are these seniors are spending their golden years making bud look beautiful the group took jobs are the second largest producer of medical cannabis in Alberta to their co-workers they've become known as the old lady clippers one of the younger staff made a remark about the old ladies well we oh my god it can't possibly be us so
old then he was sorry and he said well that's what they call you and you're not here every week these five seniors arrive at acreage farms zip up their white protective suits over their matching tees and get to work we do the clipping they could get some leaves like this and they're all gray yellow they and you trim them all off as for what attracted them to the pot business when you're retired the four walls in your house get boring after a while and this is something to do it's exciting and you learn something more
every day we can all be active and we do feel important and that means a lot to us seniors so one of their families think of their new gig my son says I'm never eating your brownies again
