Kieron Testart

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the Honourable Minister of Justice for taking real action on cannabis and actually getting out and starting to do this work. It's a bit late, but we're making progress.

Other provinces are also making progress, Mr. Speaker. Recently the Ontario government announced it will create a Cannabis Control Board and open up 60 store fronts in the first year to manage the sale and distribution of cannabis products in the province, while privatized cannabis dispensaries in Ontario will be shut down over the next 12 months.

Now, I wouldn't recommend the Minister take...

If anyone should know what the demands are, it should be the person responsible for this project, and it is pretty shocking that he has no clue whatsoever. I will ask him now: will he do some research, potentially with his colleagues in ITI, to identify what the supply demands are going to be and how we are going to regulate that? This is a significant issue for Northerners, and they expect to receive safe, legal product. It is not just about the issue of legalization and consumption, but it is about these broader issues of supply that he has got no answer for. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank the Minister of Justice for moving forward on cannabis consultations, but I would like to ask him today: the discussions that he is having with Northerners, do they involve supply and do they involve production? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate where the Minister is coming from, and we want to make evidence-based decisions, but we have that example of what happened in Dauphin, Manitoba. It was an astounding success for projects like this. That was a $17 million project, and the federal government funded 75 per cent of that. It is well within the reach of our government to ask to pilot something like that, and it would be a much smaller scale. Instead of waiting, you know, a couple years until we see what happens in Ontario, why not break some ground on this and move forward? It seems like it is the way of the future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I talked about realizing the dream of ending poverty in the Northwest Territories through a guaranteed income pilot. These programs are not just about alleviating poverty, but reducing government expense by cutting costly social security programs and rolling the costs back into this program, empowering Northerners and people with a guaranteed income that will allow them to take ownership over their decision-making. Does the Minister responsible for our social security system, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, support guaranteed income...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I applaud the government for moving forward on all those projects. They are crucially important, but with things like the Small Community Employment Support program, it is a wage subsidy. This dispenses with subsidies. It dispenses with payments that are monitored. You will not get any income clawed back. This is a revolutionary policy that could transform how we address poverty in our society. Again, I urge the Minister to commit to taking real action on this by working to develop a pilot project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is good to know the government is paying attention to that project. As the Minister knows, I am a big fan of putting more money into the pockets of Northerners. At this point, is the department considering developing a pilot project for one of our small northern communities? I am thinking about those non-tax-based communities, where people do not have market conditions to support them. We could really make a big difference by raising them to the level that our tax-based communities enjoy. Is the Minister willing to the look into developing a pilot for one of those communities?

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin this session with a subject that has become the topic of conversation across Canada: a guaranteed basic income. Across the political spectrum, the private sector, and dinner tables of northern families, a guaranteed basic income is accepted as the inevitable future for our country. Guaranteed basic income is the best way to address income disparity, eliminate poverty, and prepare our economy for the future. It is time for the Northwest Territories to embrace what is inevitable and start testing guaranteed basic incomes.

Mr. Speaker, a guaranteed basic income is a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the issue of offshore drilling, most Arctic nations have noted several concerns related to offshore drilling. The environmental sensitivity, remote locations with limited access, oil spill response, and winter Arctic conditions, limited Arctic class drilling and marine infrastructure, late season operating challenges such as limited daylight and ice conditions. The proposed solutions to these problems haven't often worked. I'd like to ask the Premier if he believes that industry is positioned well enough to safely conduct Arctic drilling in our waters or offshore of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today on our last sitting day to address an issue that has been bothering me for quite some time. It is indisputable that the North has an abundant wealth of petroleum resources. Many of those are located offshore in the Beaufort Delta. What we have heard from the Premier is opposition to the arctic drilling ban, and while I have some questions about that, what I really want to know is what we are doing to support oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories.

I know that the Minister, in his state of the economy address, shall we call it that, earlier this...