Robert C. McLeod

If it means putting this issue to bed, I will be more than happy to read the letter; it's not very long, if that's okay with the Chair and the Minister and the Premier and the public at large.

We're always reaching out to folks out there to get their input on how they're affected by a number of different issues that are facing the Northwest Territories, such as climate change. We actually don't even have to reach out to them. They reach out to us and point out some of the challenges that they're facing, too. I think it's critically important that we continue to work with them, hear what they talk about, the challenges that they face, and then we'll have a discussion with them on some of our options and some of the things we're working on going forward, because it is a critical issue...

My understanding is that the federal government has to pass legislation to legalize cannabis. I do not think we have the ability as a jurisdiction to do it on our own, because it is still illegal according to the Criminal Code, and that would have to be changed. I do not think we have the ability to enact this legislation on our own without the federal government passing their legislation to legalize cannabis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the federal government does not pass legislation, the current laws will remain in place. There is not much we can do but continue our work to get ready to implement once they do pass legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just off the top of my head, I'm not quite sure if we've done that work. Again, I will confirm that then and have a discussion with the Member. Again, I've made the offer before. That is we roll out our details and we gather more details. I'll be more than happy to sit down with Members and get their opinions and share that information with them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been doing a lot of work on the NWT side as to how we want to roll this out, and once the legislation passes, we will be able to have a product that is made in the NWT. As far as the mail order, I believe that they are going to be regulated by the federal government, but I will confirm that and have a discussion with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll answer plainly: the tax may affect those communities that have higher real estate costs than other communities across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I disagree with the Member. This is not a tax grab or a cash grab. This is something that we're putting into place. My understanding is a potential revenue from this would be about $3 million. My understanding is that we would retain all of it.

Conversations such as the one we're having right now are one way to promote knowledge-based economy and to let people out there know that there are pots of money within the territorial government to come up with some initiatives like the ones the Member spoke of. I'm sure they received some assistance of some sort from the Government of Northwest Territories. Then recognizing that, going forward, anyone can put a proposal together and submit it to the Government of Northwest Territories. When we speak of the successes of some of the proposals and initiatives that have come forward, I'm sure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have committed in our renewed mandate to developing a knowledge economy.

First of all, we are going to focus on advancing access to knowledge in our agricultural sector, expanding our geoscience information and implementation of the NTGS Strategic Plan, and advancing public understanding of resource development in the NWT.

The examples that the Member gave, I think, are very good examples of an initiative going forward that would work to our knowledge-based economy, and as we've heard a number of times in the past talking about with the benefits of the...