Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to speak to our review of Bill 7: Chartered Professional Accountants Act.

Bill 7, sponsored by the Department of Finance, merges the three professional accounting bodies currently operating in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, following the lead of the three related national accounting bodies that merged in 2013. Bill 7 will repeal three existing NWT statutes and replace them with a single, new Chartered Professional Accountants Act. This bill is being coordinated with legislation in Nunavut to allow members...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's 30 kilos of cannabis in four days or six days. Again, it seems that the demand is quite strong in the Northwest Territories, and we don't know, at this point, if it is an initial rush or if this is a market thing.

Does this new market data give confidence to the Minister that there is a viable market for cannabis in the Northwest Territories, and how does that reflect on our current regulations for private sales? Thank you.

Can the Minister advise the House on what the total cannabis sales or cannabis product sales-to-date are? Can he provide an update?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to welcome students and staff from St. Joseph’s School who are joining us today. I got to speak with them earlier. It is great to see young persons and their teachers taking an interest in our proceedings. Thank you for being here. I would also like to recognize my friend, Mr. Nathan McPherson. Thanks for being here, as well. Thank you.

Yes, I just want to use this opportunity to clarify my comments. I'm not advocating for MTS to stop doing the work it's doing or pursuing revenues. I'm saying it's an inappropriate governance model to do so.

My concern is liability and the principles of fairness and competition. I think the Minister is mischaracterizing my comments in saying, "Stop." I'm not issuing a stop work order for MTS, Mr. Chair. I am saying that, if we are going to continue to do this work, we need to do it properly.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that customers may want the service and it's a unique service. When it was NTCL, it was a private business. It wasn't subject to the same trade requirements, shall we say. If the GNWT is directly competing in private-sector markets both domestically and internationally, it could open itself up for liability as it relates to trade rules. This is something that has been expressed to me by both private-sector actors and just my own awareness of trade deals, including the new NAFTA. Is any thought being given to those issues, as it relates to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and that is what has me concerned about maintaining MTS as an in-house essential service provider. That is the stated policy objective of the purchase and how the organization is being run.

The need to find revenues to sustain the operating costs of the organization has led to the pursuit of opportunities elsewhere, but that leads the GNWT into direct competition with private sector actors, and if we are crossing international boundaries to do that, that could set up the GNWT for a whole bunch of liabilities as it relates to international trade treaties.

Has the GNWT done...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 7 be amended in the French version of that portion of subclause 6(11) preceding paragraph a) by striking out "ou de la loi equivalente au Nunavut." Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The committee would like to consider Bill 7, Chartered Professional Accountants Act; and Minister’s Statement 103-18(3), Marine Transportation Services. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be cautious around the Minister's opinions. The statements he is making around not having enough funding, I mean, he sounds more like a deputy minister than a Minister, but is the Minister prepared to make a submission to the Financial Management Board during the next round of budget deliberations to increase the available SEED funding?