Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer, thank you. Can the Minister or his staff explain the decrease in purchased services from 2016-17 to what is in the current estimates for 2017-18? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm on page 198, Corporate Management. Under policy, legislation and communications, I see that last year the department was not able to spend the amount that was put into the main estimates. This year there is a further reduction. I mentioned in my opening remarks how this department has a number of important legislative initiatives that it keeps saying it's going to bring forward. Can the Minister explain to me how these legislative initiatives are going to come forward on time when the department is making reductions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us where this new agricultural division is going to be located, and how many staff, and so on? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Like my colleagues, I, too, want to talk about the need for economic diversification. It is in our mandate, yet there are no increases in economic diversification in the ITI budget. In fact, there are several cuts proposed. If you look at the budget overall, even in the Minister's opening remarks, this is a budget that overall is going to be cut, the department, by 7.3 per cent, $4.4 million. This is, I guess, driven by Cabinet's fiscal strategy.

In terms of economic diversification and business support, there is a 17 per cent cut in grants and contributions, and that is...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want a second here to review my notes, if I could. I don't think I have any other questions on this. Actually, I do, sorry.

The agricultural strategy, it's going to get tabled in the House. The only funding, then, that we're going to have available for this is whatever we might be able to negotiate with the federal government for Growing Forward 3; is that what's going to happen, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, that is great to see that we are finally going to go out. Does he have a timeline, though, for this work? Like, this has been dragging on for years, so is there a timeline for these consultations? When is there going to be a report that comes out of the consultation, and then probably you have to develop an action plan, then it has to go to FMB for funding, like, this is just going to go on forever. Does the Minister actually have any particular timelines? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would certainly encourage the Minister, whether he has the permission of his Cabinet colleagues or not, to continue to push for a national pharmacare program and work with provincial and territorial Ministers towards that. I know we had the federal Health Minister just here, and I hope he took that opportunity to talk with her about a national pharmacare program. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. What additional kinds of efficiencies could we see here if we had a national pharmacare program, and what are we doing about that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Same page. One line down there is a reduction from 2016-17 to 2017-18 for pharmacy. Can the Minister or his officials explain the decrease there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Minister that, if there are communiques and so on, that we don't always see that kind of material, so I would certainly encourage him to share it with this side of the House. Again, can the Minister commit to recommending to federal Ministers and their staff that during visits to the Northwest Territories there be meetings with Regular MLAs through the appropriate standing committees? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.