TORONTO — The Canadian government will announce that it will pardon those with a pot possession record of 30 grams or less when Canada becomes the second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace Wednesday.

A senior government official said those with a record will be allowed to apply for a pardon. The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of Wednesday’s announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Canada becomes the second country after Uruguay to legalize so-called recreational marijuana. Tom Clarke, 43, will be among the first to legally sell recreational marijuana when his shop opens at midnight in Newfoundland, Canada’s easternmost province.

“I am living my dream. Teenage Tom Clarke is loving what I am doing with my life right now,” he said.

Clarke has been dealing marijuana illegally in Canada for 30 years. He wrote in his high school yearbook that his dream was to open a cafe in Amsterdam, the Dutch city where people have legally smoked weed in coffee shops since the 1970s.

Turns out, Clarke didn’t have to go nearly so far to open his own retail cannabis outlet.

At least 111 legal pot shops are planning to open across the nation of 37 million people on the first day, according to an Associated Press survey of the provinces. That is a small slice of what ultimately will be a much larger marketplace.

No stores will open in Ontario, which includes Toronto. The most populous province is working on its regulations and doesn’t expect stores until next spring.