R.J. Simpson

I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.

I figured it would have been more than four members by now, but I know that there are a lot of challenges facing the RCMP in the territory, and you can't just send them all off for training. Hopefully we can get an updated timeline from the Minister about when all that training will be completed.

One concern that we saw in the media was that these roadside testing kits might fail in cold weather, and I want to know from the Minister: what has the department put in place to monitor the occurrence of false positives so that we are not wrongly charging our residents?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This cannabis issue is multi-facetted, so I have some questions for the Minister of Justice. He is not going to get off the hook today. There has been a lot of talk of the roadside testing for cannabis for impaired driving, so I would like an update from the Minister. I believe the NWT has procured these roadside drug-testing kits. Have they been distributed across the territory, and are they available to all officers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will rise and report progress. Thank you, committee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want some clarification on that last answer. The Minister is aware that there have been concerns about the reliability, but he is not concerned about the reliability, so there is nothing in place to test the reliability. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Hopefully the Minister can provide that information sooner than later. This has been discussed in this House before. Officers are being trained to use the equipment, as well as, I believe, to detect impairment without the equipment. I know that there was a training program that officers were going through, and they had a timeline. How many officers in the territory have been trained to date in cannabis impairment testing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for consensus government to work, each Minister must have a clear vision of what they want to achieve and be a strong enough leader to turn that vision into reality. In a party system, Ministers have party members and political staff to help them develop a vision and associated policy. However, in our system, the Ministers' only support staff is the bureaucracy, which is not designed nor mandated to make the bold political decisions that are sometimes necessary. I am concerned that, in the absence of a bold vision, we will squander the opportunity to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 7, Chartered Professional Accountants Act; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 215-18(3), Capital Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

I will call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

I understand that the public administrator isn't running the day-to-day operations. Like the Minister said, he can provide advice to the Minister about what needs to happen. So will the Minister commit to sit down with Mr. Willows and produce a document that identifies the problems in Hay River and ways to address them with clear goals and deliverables so that people can see progress is being made?