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“I think this is a fantastic location for Barrhaven,” she said.

As a “gateway” to Ottawa, Barrhaven is a convenient stop for residents in Stittsville, Richmond and Kemptville.

Nor have there been any major problems with the city’s existing three legal pot boutiques, she said.

“I’m not expecting a hue and outcry from the community, but if it happens we’ll hold a meeting and we’ll talk about that.”

The move to suburbia is significant, said Trina Fraser, a lawyer with Ottawa’s Brazeau Sellers Law and a consultant to the cannabis industry.

“We already have three centrally located stores and we have none in the ‘burbs. No south, no east, no west stores. I’ve told clients, ‘If I were you, that’s where I’d be looking to open a store.’

“It’s a pretty good business strategy. You have convenient parking. And a big part of the growing demographic of cannabis users we talk about are soccer moms and seniors.”

Critics of the lottery system were quick to find fault in the AGCO’s list of lottery winners. Five of the seven winning applicants for Ontario’s “Eastern Region” were within 120 kilometres of downtown Toronto, north and northwest of the city.

Some of the announced winners even shared the same address.

While Ottawa will receive one dispensary, tiny Innisfil, outside Barrie, had three applicants chosen.

“This highlights even more than the first go-round the willy-nilly nature of the lottery,” Fraser said. “I mean, by design, it’s random and that can cause some really wonky things — like three stores right beside each other in a community of 36,000 people.”