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Inside a nondescript building in an industrial park in Carleton Place, construction crews are building growing rooms for cannabis plants.

RockGarden Medicinals is the third medical marijuana grower to pop up within an hour’s drive of Parliament Hill. The mother-son team behind the business is hoping to be awarded a licence from Health Canada this summer.

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It’s part of a green rush of grow-ops as Canada moves to legalize recreational marijuana. The federal government’s target date is July 1, 2018.

But don’t plan a Canada Day 2018 shopping bonanza at your local pot shop yet. Canadians may be more likely to find empty shelves — in provinces where stores are even up and running — and shortages.

That’s because there will not be enough marijuana produced to meet the demand, say a range of cannabis industry experts.

Canada’s medical cannabis growers now supply about 170,000 patients, and many producers regularly sell out or run short of strains, says Aaron Salz. He was the first investment analyst on Bay Street to specialize in Canada’s cannabis industry, and is now a consultant to some of the big growers.