Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been hearing from our local cannabis grower and producer that they are having difficulty kind of gaining a foothold in the industry knowing that they're operating in the North. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister describe -- the Minister of Finance specifically, describe the policy used for supporting our local producers? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a policy in place from the financial management board that supports having our local producers receive a discount on the markup. So the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission places a markup on all cannabis products that come for sale in the North. For our cannabis producers here locally, any cannabis producers here locally, they get a 10 percentage point discount, which equates in real numbers to being almost a 30 percent discount on that markup. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister commit to reviewing this policy and considering changes to ensure that our fledgling industry is given its best chance to grow and create more private sector employment in our community? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity to tour the facility here and meet with the producers, and I've heard from them that they certainly would, sounds like, prefer to see a discount on the retail end price as opposed to on the markup price. Mr. Speaker, we've certainly had that conversation many times. No doubt it would -- I can't say whether it would make a difference for them. You know, at this point I'd need to know what their numbers are. I can commit to reviewing the policy again. We've done that in the past. We've done that in response to this industry, prepared to review it again. As I've said, I can't commit to what it would look like. It's a financial management board approved policy, but I'm happy to commit that we will review it one more time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to, yet again, meeting with our local producer to discuss these potential changes so we can ensure their perspective is heard as the department is reviewing it, the policy. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly happy to do that. As I've said, I understand they've looked at having a retail end point. Our perspective has been to put at the markup, which is really the end that we control. So to ensure that we all move forward on a policy that makes sense to everyone, if we're going to do this review, I'd be happy to meet with them and make sure that we're all speaking the same language. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that further commitment. Mr. Speaker, finally, can the Minister give a timeline for when we can expect all of this to occur? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Subject, obviously, to finding an opportunity to meet with these producers, what I could say is we can have a review in front of the financial management board this summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
