Rylund Johnson

I want to express the issue here is that when someone attends a legal cannabis store and there is no cannabis, they go to the black market, which I can assure the Minister of Justice is still very much alive and well in the Northwest Territories. That means we are allowing criminals to continue to sell cannabis as well as not gaining the tax revenue needed from this. My question to the Minister of Justice is: what is currently happening to find new sources that can meet the demand?

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice, regarding cannabis. Madam Speaker, we find ourselves here, a year and a half after cannabis legalization, with the promise being, after one year, we would have private cannabis stores in the Northwest Territories or at least be along the road. My question is: when will we see our first private cannabis store in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the RCMP control their hiring practices, and I do appreciate the Minister's commitment to continue working with "G" Division. However, I think there is a bit of a political aspect missing from this conversation. I am looking at the federal financial committee's recommendations on budget 2020, recommendation 29, thanks to our MP, Mr. McLeod. It says, "Recognize Indigenous police services as central services under the law; ensure they can obtain long, stable term funding like other police services and expand these services in the northern territories." I...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just building on my colleague's comments regarding corrections, I think there is large recognition both professionally and best practices, that, if we can avoid putting people in corrections, we save money. We are spending millions of dollars constructing this new facility in Fort Smith. I question whether we should have just provided housing and addiction treatment to those people, but that is a different question. Can the Minister just explain, I often hear the new Fort Smith Correctional Complex referred to as a therapeutic model, how that is different from North Slave...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Our job here is to be legislators and to debate policy, and I am consistently frustrated that I find myself getting into the implementation and the operations of our departments. Earlier today, I heard the Minister of Lands commit that the land within municipal boundaries, there is a working group in place; hopefully, within a year, we have a process document; and then after that, we may see the land transferred. Unfortunately, I have to ask questions of every Minister to ensure that this is happening, so my question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community...

I appreciate the Minister of Justice's response that we will see those RFPs out this month, and I will encourage my constituents who are interested to apply to that process. I had a constituent attend the uptown liquor store the other day, the only place to buy cannabis legally in town, and there was, in fact, no cannabis there. My question for the Minister of Finance: why, 18 months after legalization, do we still not have our procurement process in order?

Thank you, Madam Chair, and that's exactly the problem, is that we're essentially encouraging senior management to go and find cuts, and then pay themselves bonuses. Can you provide the total amount that we paid for in pay for performance bonuses?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize, perhaps, that was in the summary part that we passed by, so I will just take it as a commitment from the Minister to provide a breakdown of the total cost we are paying to service our debt as projected in these main estimates. That's my only question, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. I am also always confused about what I know and what is public and whatnot. I was simply looking for something public. My next question is: can I have some explanation of what a debenture is for the NWT Hydro Corporation, specifically what these debts are that have interest rates 6.42 percent, 9 percent, 10 percent? Can someone explain to me what that is and why would we ever be paying that amount of interest?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the Minister acknowledges that there are problems with the building inspection. However, I think the argument that this would create further red tape, when there is simply no enforcement or inspection occurring, is not a valid argument, Mr. Speaker. It's a free-for-all right now, as soon as you leave Yellowknife, in regard to building standards. We have a number of codes and guidelines, some are enforceable, some are not, but at the end of the day, there is no one there to enforce this at a territorial level. Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister...