R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, of course, Nutrition North is a federal program and it has its own criteria and it's related to accessibility, road access. That being said, we obviously have higher costs of living in the Northwest Territories, and that's an appropriate thing to bring forward to our discussions with the federal government and the ministerial special adviser, and I think it's important to also highlight Indigenous businesses and how we can better support them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year Minister Vandal, who was at the time the Minister responsible for Nutrition North, announced that there would be -- they'd be undertaking their five-year review of the program and that that review is expected to be completed this year. And so we are waiting that and are engaging at every opportunity that we can.

As well, we have -- or the Minister last year also announced that there would be a -- let me just find this position -- a ministerial special representative independent of the federal public service appointed to review the Nutrition North program. That...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be no change in the cost of this position. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I generally don't talk directly to the detachment commanders, but I do speak with the commanding officer and I'm happy to have that conversation with him. I know that, you know, he is very invested in this divisional drug strategy, and he is doing his best to ensure that the resources are available to officers across the territory. And often that includes things like training. Just having the awareness of, you know, when someone might be using drugs if they're driving a vehicle, then that gives you cause to stop that person and then take further action from there. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the crime reduction unit has been established. They are still staffing up. I'm not sure as of today how many members they have staffed up. But despite -- even if they're not fully staffed, they have been doing work across the Northwest Territories and, you know, not just in drug investigations, also doing things like working with the post office trying to ensure that we can stop drugs going through the mail and different types of things like that. This is a territorial unit, and it's based here in Yellowknife, but it can be deployed and will be deployed throughout...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course logistics are one of the biggest issues we face here in the Northwest Territories. We've seen issues with climate change relating to supply chain issues with the Mackenzie River, and so when instances like that arise we have responded with supports to impacted communities. We are also looking at continuing to connect communities in the Northwest Territories by road. Of course, there's been a few -- those connections done in the past number of years. And we're talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway as well which will have impacts on the administration of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We already have an office in Ottawa. There's actually a desk and a chair there already so there may be an increased cost with pens, staples, things like that, but there's not going to be a significant cost implementations for this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just to be clear, I had spoke with Indigenous governments after the decision was made to let them know what was going on, and I spoke with my Cabinet colleagues because, you know, when we make changes in that hallway where we all work, I want to ensure that Cabinet feels supported as all the staff down that hallway support all of Cabinet in one way or another. So that being said, this was a decision that I made in my office based on the experiences that I had over the past year. So I'm happy to consult with the standing committee on policies, on programs, on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, no, no, I can't do that. We only have so much capacity in this government. You know, there was the bill the Member was referencing that moved through very quickly. Unfortunately, at the Department of Justice we have a limited number of policy staff who work on all of our initiatives, and then we have a limited number of drafters as well. And so to bring forward all of these items in such a short timeframe, it wouldn't be logistically possible if we want to it well. And we also have a public engagement piece we want to do with things, especially like the SCAN...