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.
Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, as this House will know, public meetings have been held in I think nine communities. The last public hearing was today. I understand there is a wide variety of concerns being expressed. Of course, production of cannabis will be licensed by the federal government under the Cannabis Act. That is the proposed legislation. Thank you.
Well, given that reality, in New Brunswick they have negotiated for nine million grams of cannabis for their province. Does the Minister have an idea of what the supply demands would be in the Northwest Territories and is he working to secure a supply with the distributor?
No, I have no idea what the demand might be, but I have heard that it may be considerable. We have not yet entered into any sort of an agreement, or even contemplated agreements yet with possible suppliers who, of course, must be licensed by the federal government.
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 commit to doing this very important work before we go live with cannabis legislation in the Northwest Territories?
Well, it is rather hard to determine what the demand and supply is of an illegal product. I do not know how we will determine that, but I will say that Federal Minister Goodale in speaking to us at the FPT last week estimated that the illegal market in Canada was somewhere between $7 and $9 billion, so I think we can anticipate that the market is significant throughout the country and, perhaps, no less per capita here than elsewhere.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, again, New Brunswick seems to be able to do it. Ontario seems to be able to do it. They have fully informed plans, and they are already making the plans. We still do not have answers. Again, instead of suggesting what our demand may be and how some of these features are going to work that are not being contemplated by the round of consultations which we now concluded, will the Minister do some work on this area and report back to the House so people can have certainty about what the economic opportunities are going to be for this product, and how Northerners are going to access them? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as mentioned previously, there have been a series of public meetings and in addition to that as I mentioned yesterday approximately 1,100 online responses. We will soon be coming up with a "what we heard" document, so we will have some idea of what the public's opinion is with respect to this important issue. I look forward to working with all Members of this House with respect to moving forward with this change in our law and how we are going to be dealing with the retail and distribution end for this product. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
