Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health. Does the Minister support a marijuana regulation regime for the Northwest Territories that both allows us to capture more taxation revenues and keep our kids safe from a substance that is very much out of control under the current prohibition regime? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, within the Government of the Northwest Territories the Department of Justice is the lead department on the NWT Working Group, which includes the Department of Health and Social Services, Finance and Transportation. There are a number of departments that are involved in figuring out the GNWT's response to legalization of marijuana. The federal, provincial and territorial governments have actually formed an interdepartmental working group and the GNWT has two members, one from the Department of Justice and one from the Department of Health, on that intergovernmental working group.
Mr. Speaker, we are paying close attention to what the federal government is doing; we're getting briefings from them at every opportunity when they offer to present them. From the Department of Health and Social Services’ perspective, we understand that there's a desire to legalize marijuana here in this country.
Moving forward, we're just trying to make sure that the federal government is aware and is working to ensure that residents in Canada, including the Northwest Territories, remain safe; that marijuana stays out of the hands of children; that appropriate resources will be available to educate people on the harms of smoking marijuana; and that individuals who have been authorized by their health practitioners to utilize marijuana still maintain safe access.
Mr. Speaker, when the federal government did their initial call, I sent a letter to Minister Philpott indicating our willingness to work with them obviously but encouraging them to seriously support the provinces and territories, preferably with financial resources, to get out in front and do some public awareness on the harms of smoking marijuana. Smoking a carbon-based product whether it's marijuana or cigarettes isn't good for you; we need to make sure that the public are aware.
I appreciate the Minister informing this House or keeping this House up-to-date on our federal engagement of this issue; however, my questions are more precisely about what this government's response will be to this new regime. It's not a question of should we support, it's a question of how do we manage it once the law changes. So I'm wondering what the Minister has launched or what this working group the Minister's department is a part of has launched in terms of looking at research or modelling studies here in the Northwest Territories for how this is going to work after April 2017.
As I indicated, there is an interdepartmental working group doing this analysis. We are paying close attention to what some of the other jurisdictions are doing. Some of them are already moving forward with some regulations and I've had an opportunity to talk to some of the other Ministers of Health who have the same issues, and they've indicated that although they're moving forward on regulations they understand that that's cursory or initial and we won't really truly have an idea of what those regulations will be or should be until the federal government comes forward with their legislation.
Coming forward and passing the legislation to legalize marijuana is one thing. It will happen on a certain date; it's been suggested April. It doesn't mean it goes live in April. There will be plenty of opportunity to actually work with the provinces and territories and come up with some regulations. In the Northwest Territories, that's going to take a number of different departments.
Some of the regulation similar to regulating alcohol and distributing alcohol will be done by the Department of Finance, and there will certainly likely be some provisions that may need to be adjusted in legislation which will involve all the other departments. So we are working closely together, watching what's happening in other jurisdictions, collecting data, so that we're ready to move once we have a better sense of what the federal legislation looks like.
Thank you to the Minister for that very thorough response. I wonder, though, with all of our legislative priorities and privacy this government in a very large mandate document, do we have the capacity to accommodate a significant shift like this? The Minister just spoke of involving three departments, and if not more, in making all these changes, so is this working group analysing the kind of capacity it's going to take for our government to get up to speed? I would hate for Northerners to be in a legislative lurch while this change takes place and our government to be playing catch-up.
Mr. Speaker, I think this government has demonstrated an ability to get work done on a fairly regular basis, especially when issues that we have not necessarily been the lead on bringing to reality have come forward, things like medical assistance in dying, a federal initiative that resulted in a significant amount of work being done by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Government of the Northwest Territories. When this legislation comes down, we will do our due diligence, we will collect the data, and we will make sure that NWT residents aren't adversely affected by those changes and that they have access to legal product in this country in a safe and responsible way.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you again to the Minister for that. I look forward to working with this government on that issue. Finally, a more technical point: does the department or the working group currently have any recommendations on the legal age or the minimum legal age is 25 or 19 or something else, or is it too soon to make that determination? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, those ages were recently thrown out by the federal government's working group that's out doing some analysis right now. I don't personally have -- I haven't seen any scientific data to suggest the appropriate age. I would say that some of the suggestions around that age seem to have some value recognizing brain development and ensuring that youth develop safe and effectively. So at this point we have no opinion one way or the other but we will keep ourselves informed and see where it goes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
