Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it is showing as being aligned to the Fort Smith correctional complex, which obviously does house both the men's and women's facility, and the one latter -- or the men's facility being one which is now targeted for part of a reduction and to be moving forward towards hopefully a shift into a wellness facility of some fashion, subject to discussions with the community and the vision that they may have for it. So obviously there may be changes that are coming to where this project will go in a capital project -- where the capital project will go in the next fiscal year...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have some good news to report in a broad sense. The project for the Taltson watershed area and the potential expansion of the Taltson is proceeding under an MOU. And it's an MOU that involves the Akaitcho First Nations as well as Metis governments of the region and of the Taltson watershed. And we've had more than one steering committee already in the time of this government. One, in fact, in person, where the group travelled to see what underwater tables would look like along with members of the steering committee as well as members of their council. I...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly happy to do that. As I've said, I understand they've looked at having a retail end point. Our perspective has been to put at the markup, which is really the end that we control. So to ensure that we all move forward on a policy that makes sense to everyone, if we're going to do this review, I'd be happy to meet with them and make sure that we're all speaking the same language. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a policy in place from the financial management board that supports having our local producers receive a discount on the markup. So the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission places a markup on all cannabis products that come for sale in the North. For our cannabis producers here locally, any cannabis producers here locally, they get a 10 percentage point discount, which equates in real numbers to being almost a 30 percent discount on that markup. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, something that I started doing last government, and then very much looking forward to getting back into when we're not in post-election budget cycle, is to do budget dialogues. The budget dialogues was an opportunity to sit down with NGOs, for example, and it was actually out of that that was first the notion of getting to a place where we could have forced growth submissions for NGOs came from, and then it was then supported and driven by MLAs. So it is was an example, firstly, of success from the budget dialogues and frankly success from the consensus...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I may be responsible for financial management board management, the Premier's office is responsible for the relationship with NGOs. And right now, in EIA's business plans for the next four years, there's a significant amount of work planned out to happen in this space to ensure that there's the advisory group that is formed to provide exactly the kind of feedback that the Member is asking and that the recommendations from the report of, I believe 2023, can be looked at towards implementation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the existing or the specific amounts under the MOU in front of me. I'll have to just double check. There's been no reductions to the Taltson work, and there is federal funding involved. And, as I understand it, the federal funding that we have does take us forward to a point that is satisfactory to get this work done. So I've not been under any impression of any cuts or funding drawbacks. I expect that if there was an understanding from the federal government -- or from the Indigenous governments, then it should indeed be there and be...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Subject, obviously, to finding an opportunity to meet with these producers, what I could say is we can have a review in front of the financial management board this summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity to tour the facility here and meet with the producers, and I've heard from them that they certainly would, sounds like, prefer to see a discount on the retail end price as opposed to on the markup price. Mr. Speaker, we've certainly had that conversation many times. No doubt it would -- I can't say whether it would make a difference for them. You know, at this point I'd need to know what their numbers are. I can commit to reviewing the policy again. We've done that in the past. We've done that in response to this industry, prepared...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a great many struggles across this Northwest Territories right now, whether it's the public service that's struggling, whether it's NGOs delivering services that are struggling, whether it's residents who are struggling, residents in the Sahtu right now are struggling. So it is difficult to have a line item or an announceable in a budget that addresses every single one of the struggles that we are having in the territory right now coming off of four years of struggle. There's a lot of struggle. No, there is not a line item that says, this NGO...