Kieron Testart

I'd like to close debate, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate, I certainly appreciate my honourable friends sharing the thoughts of the communities that they represent; however, I would like to point out that this motion does not call for the act to be changed to allow for licensed establishments for cannabis consumption, nor does it call for including highpotency cannabis in the act, nor does it call for edibles. All this motion is calling for is an interdepartmental working group to prepare for future regulations. Of course, this working group could produce advice that says, "Do not allow for...

Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories form an interdepartmental working group to prepare for the future regulation of cannabis-based products, including high-potency cannabis products and licensed establishments for cannabis consumption. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the biggest concerns, as I mentioned in my opening comments, is how cannabis, the regulation scheme, is going to be resourced and whether not, and my honourable friend from Mackenzie Delta just mentioned this, whether or not communities are going to have to pony up cash from limited community-level resources to pay for new regulatory officers or inspectors like bylaw officers. The RCMP are concerned, as my honourable friend also mentioned. They do not believe, the conversations I had, there is some skepticism whether or not they have the resources to implement this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to provide opening comments.

Bill 6 is the product of the Government of the Northwest Territories' efforts to develop a legal cannabis regulatory system with the coming legalization of the substance through action taken by the Government of Canada. One thing that was very clear from the onset is that there was some hesitation, and not just from the executive council, but also from the honourable Members on this side of the House, towards how this initiative would roll out and how best to craft a legal system for cannabis in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, I agree, the Minister could go on all day, but let's get back to the business at hand. Another comment, you know, perhaps when the media is enquiring into the low achievement, the Minister could be the one to respond instead of her department, because that is a lot more optimistic than the message that the public is getting, which is things are not moving as far as they should. The action plan for education renewal is extremely ambitious. It has around 200 targets that were supposed to be met by this point in time. Of those 200 targets, how many targets have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For over a decade, the NWT has had problems with student achievement. After five years of education renewal, there is still little improvement in student achievement. Can the Minister comment on the state of the situation for student achievement and whether or not she believes education renewal is working? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this addresses the concern we heard from the public, even in communities that did not want cannabis or that did not want cannabis opportunities or did not see any side of the economic equation but were merely looking at it from a public safety / public health equation. I believe all or at least the vast majority wanted a share of cannabis revenues, either to help them with enforcement, to help with public education. In Inuvik, for example, we heard someone say all of the cannabis revenue should go to community public infrastructure to close the infrastructure gap...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise to speak to an important issue that is integral to the development of our territory: the education of our children and young Northerners. Earlier this month, in a CBC article, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment confirmed that the educational achievement of our school children is lower than hoped for.

The article reported that just over half of grade 6 students and about 47 per cent of grade 9 students met an acceptable standard in English. While, in math, this was shown to be worse than 43 per cent achieving acceptable standards in grade 6...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The laws of supply and demand have a particular relevance to illicit substances such as cannabis, or any drug for that matter. Narcotics are easy to produce, especially cannabis. It is a weed; it grows just about anywhere. It is easy to produce, and the price point of cannabis is, in fact, created largely by its illegal status, which has fuelled the profitability for organized crime and low-level dealers to make a living off the sale of illicit cannabis.

To deal with that market, because clearly the demand in the Northwest Territories is very high, as it is across the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with the Government of Canada and other government partners to resolve outstanding questions on record suspensions for offences related to cannabis possession. Thank you, Mr. Chair.