Brett Wilson thinks Canada’s scattered cannabis retail planning is operating amid ‘organized confusion,’ but that the nation’s future under legalized pot will be brighter.

“The rollout is still a little bit of a hodgepodge,” the Canoe Financial chairman said of retail rollout two days ahead of the federal government’s legalization date of Oct. 17. “The big picture is a state of, I’m going to call it organized confusion, because every province is doing things differently and every region within the provinces, every municipality, all feel like they need to put their final stamp of approval on a structure.”

“So, we’ve got stores that are ready to open that haven’t been licensed. We’ve got licensed stores that aren’t ready to open,” he said.

Despite the confusion, the end of cannabis prohibition offers Canadian businesses a rare opportunity, Wilson added.

“It’s once in a lifetime,” he said. “The repeal of prohibition has occurred and it’s a rollout that’s going to be, I think, actually pretty exciting for a lot of businesses.”

Wilson said that the organized confusion extends to supply, as well.

“We’re seeing headlines that say there’s going to be a supply shortage and then [other] people talk about over-supply,” Wilson said.

However, he thinks Canada will ride its head start to eventually become the world’s first-choice pot supplier.

“I think Canada … we are global in terms of world-class capacity to produce at the lowest cost possible,” Wilson said, noting he’s invested in potential alternative suppliers in markets as varied as Colombia, Jamaica and Lesotho.

“Everyone says they’re going to be the lowest-cost of supply with the best product. I’ve heard that in every pitch. So then you get back and start to drill through it and talk about: ‘Alright, well who can actually deliver?’ and I believe that Canadians will be a choice supplier for the world.”

Cannabis Canada is BNN Bloomberg’s in-depth series exploring the stunning formation of the entirely new – and controversial – Canadian recreational marijuana industry. Read more from the special series here and subscribe to our Cannabis Canada newsletter to have the latest marijuana news delivered directly to your inbox every day.