Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress.

That covers the mechanical aspects of repairing this issue, but there will be more costs required for the backup diesel system. Can the Minister speak to what the equivalent cost to generate the loss of 15 per cent of power through diesel is? Is he aware of those numbers now? Can he share them with the House?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues. The Snare Forks Hydroelectric Facility has been reported as having a bearing failure, and now the public reports on this say the unit will be offline for several months, which represents a loss of 4.3 megawatts of power, approximately 15 per cent of the hydro system's total generating capacity. My question to the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation is: what will be the impact of this technical failure on the cost of living of Northerners and the power rates that rate payers are paying? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to speak on a topic today which is important to all Northerners: reconciliation within Indigenous peoples.

For over a century, Indigenous children were removed from their communities and sent to residential schools. These governmentfunded, churchrun schools attempted to whitewash and reeducate the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual development of generations of Indigenous youth. This was a terrible mistake that has stained our shared history, and we, as a society, must accept the trauma we intentionally inflicted upon Indigenous peoples from coast...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for providing us with information. I know it's a live event, and I see there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but if he could just reassure taxpayers that, if there are costs not covered by the insurance, the government will carry the burden of that so that we are not putting the cost back onto our citizens. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Schedule A to Bill 6 be amended by adding the following after subsection 5(1):

(1.1) Before the Minister designates a person to act as a vendor under subsection (1), the Minister shall ensure that the person meets the prescribed criteria.

(1.2) If a person meets the prescribed criteria, the Minister shall designate that person to act as a vendor unless the Minister provides a reasonable justification for not doing so.

(1.3) The Minister shall not require that, in order for a person to be designated as a vendor under subsection (1), the person must also be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to present its Report on the Review of the 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The review took place in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, from April 18-19, 2018.

The committee notes that the Consolidated 2016-2017 Public Accounts of the Government of the Northwest Territories received a clean audit opinion from the Auditor General and commends the Government of the Northwest Territories for this achievement.

Members of the standing committee would also like to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, want to thank the work of my colleagues on the Standing Committee of Government Operations and the Standing Committee on Social Development.

This was no easy task, and throughout the whole review period the committee was charged with the review of this bill. We had many developments hanging over us. Most importantly, the federal legislation that will legalize cannabis. I want to be clear that this legislation, Bill 6, is not the key to legalizing cannabis. Changes to the Criminal Code are, and that is the sole jurisdiction of the federal government.

During our...

While the Minister continues to survey the results, my constituents are losing thousands of dollars by this backlog. If he is not willing to bring forward more resources, what other things can he do to reduce the waiting times at the rental office? What kind of policy or directives can he apply to make this problem resolve itself?

The Minister did say he'd give committee a heads up when a supply contract has been entered into with a producer. Can the Minister commit to bringing that before standing committee by way of a public hearing to answer any questions of the general public interests related to cannabis procurement for the government as a wholesaler? Thank you.