Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Members heard from my Member's statement, there is some concern around the commitment to privatize retail opportunities for cannabis in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission give the House an update as to the privatization process to date? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, cannabis has been legal for just going on seven months now. We did make a commitment that we were going to look at privatizing the sale of cannabis. It is a very long, lengthy process, and we make those who are interested aware of that. The Member was correct in his Member's statement before, I think he mentioned the date May 29th, that has been extended to June 30th. Part of that is at their request, because there was a criminal record check that was required, and rather than sticking to a hard date and possibly eliminating someone who might be potential retailers, we thought we'd extend the date and give them the opportunity to get that work done. So it is a lengthy process. Those who applied are made aware of that, and they understand that, and it's something that we're going to commit that we're going to do this right and make sure we have the proper people out there who would be retailers for cannabis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That explanation is greatly appreciated and, again, sometimes investors are looking at these changes and don't quite understand them, so I appreciate the Minister coming forward with that information. To my knowledge, there are around 20 applications in. How many retail opportunities is the GNWT considering through their assessment so far? Are we looking at multiple stores in Yellowknife? Are we looking at single stores in Inuvik, where they do not have a cannabis retail outlet? Can the Minister provide any new content to that point?
As the Department of Finance, I don't believe we have a set number of the amount of stores that we might allow in each district or each community. We would work closely with the municipal governments. Obviously, they would have a very important say as to how many of these outlets they might want to have in their community, so we would work with them and see if we can come up with an agreeable solution. So, again, it's not one that we're going to decide, we're going to make the decision when it's final; we'll work with those who would be directly impacted by the number of retailers in their community.
I know that the Yellowknife City Council, for example, has had some debate around how this is going to operate, so it's good to hear that the Minister is working directly with distributors. There has been some movement on the production side of cannabis in Canada, with a number of boutique cannabis strains being approved by Health Canada, et cetera. Is the NWT Cannabis Commission considering expanding its inventory and bringing more strains and entering into more supply agreements so we can diversify our product base and give consumers more choice?
It is something that we would consider. If the consumers are looking for a particular type of product or if there is a particular type of product that is more popular than others, then obviously I think the commission would look at having that readily available. So, again, it's a new process. We've been going through it for a while now. We ran into some issues at the start with supply; those issues seem to have been resolved, and we're starting to move forward. Just for the record, I think that we've had about $1.6 or $1.7 million in sales so far; $1.6, I believe, in sales so far. Again, as to consumer demands and consumer choices, we will work and try to make sure we have those types of products available for consumers who are interested.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume, once we have these private retail stores, we'll get a better sense of the consumer base out there. Many people have commented to me on the somewhat absurd situation where we will have private cannabis stores before we have private liquor retail stores. Is the department willing to consider the example they're setting by privatizing cannabis retail to extend that to alcohol? Thank you.
Not at the moment, Mr. Speaker. We have our liquor retailers in each region, and I think I'd be a little hesitant. Again, I'd be a little hesitant in expanding the number of liquor stores and making liquor a little more available to those who are feeling the effects of it. So, again, we may need to do a review of the whole operation, and I think it's one where we can provide some advice to the incoming government of the 19th, and maybe start some of the work now and doing a review of the overall liquor and cannabis distribution in the Northwest Territories, but at the moment, we're not looking to open a private retailer for liquor more than we need to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
