Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On May 25th, the Minister of Health and Social Services spoke on the GNWT's public education awareness campaign related to cannabis in preparation for legalization and in preparation to us passing our own laws. I don't want to focus on what is obviously being proposed that we will debate at a later day, but on his statement. It seems like there is a lot of work that has been undertaken already on educating people. Could the Minister provide approximate costs of what has been spent on this public campaign and where the resources are coming from? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have those exact figures in front of me, but I am happy to pull that information together and share it with the Member and committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister. I would very much appreciate that. I do not recall any specific spending in the last budget towards cannabis public education. This is obviously an issue that is very important as we roll out this process. Can the Minister just confirm whether or not it was additional money voted in the budget or whether it is internal resources from the department proper?
To date, we have been using money out of our public health budget to help get that information out there. As a note, we have submitted a proposal to the federal government seeking support to help us work with communities to tailor the information to the communities and get it out. We are not sure we are going to get that financial support or not, but we are still committed to doing the work and working with our partners to get the message out there.
Can the Minister release the details of that plan, either publicly or to the appropriate standing committee?
I sent a letter to committee earlier this week with a complete outline of the advertising and communications that we are doing to get some of that information out there, but I am happy to share a copy of that letter with the Member as well.
Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister just confirm whether or not that was what the department has already undertaken? I am more interested in the detailed multi-year funding proposal that is in to the federal government. Can the committee or the public see that proposal at this time? Thank you.
I am happy to share that proposal with standing committee. I am not sure we should make that public at this point, because we are still working with the federal government to try and obtain that money, but I am happy to share it with committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
