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Alberta’s newest medical marijuana operation is planting the seeds that could turn the quiet hamlet of Peers into one of the crown jewels in Canada’s cannabis kingdom.

In March, Acreage Pharma Ltd. became the second licensed pot producer in the province, opening a 630-square-metre facility near the tiny community south of the McLeod River.

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But that building is just the start. Company co-founder Trevor Dixon hopes to break ground soon on a larger plant beside it, and is looking at a 23,000-square-metre third phase that would place the overall development among the country’s largest cannabis producers.

Peers has about 100 residents around three commercial blocks that include a weatherbeaten hotel, a food store and a 90-year-old United Church that badly needs painting.

Dixon, who expects most of the nearly 150 employees at the three phases would live nearby, thinks the district’s future is “fantastic.”

“We have not heard anybody oppose what we’re doing here,” he says during a recent tour.

“Peers is starting to feel it already. We’re injecting quite a bit of cash into the community through the creation of quality jobs … It’s a big boost to the area, and we’re doing that without any effluent.”