Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this addresses the concern we heard from the public, even in communities that did not want cannabis or that did not want cannabis opportunities or did not see any side of the economic equation but were merely looking at it from a public safety / public health equation. I believe all or at least the vast majority wanted a share of cannabis revenues, either to help them with enforcement, to help with public education. In Inuvik, for example, we heard someone say all of the cannabis revenue should go to community public infrastructure to close the infrastructure gap...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I rise to speak to an important issue that is integral to the development of our territory: the education of our children and young Northerners. Earlier this month, in a CBC article, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment confirmed that the educational achievement of our school children is lower than hoped for.

The article reported that just over half of grade 6 students and about 47 per cent of grade 9 students met an acceptable standard in English. While, in math, this was shown to be worse than 43 per cent achieving acceptable standards in grade 6...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The laws of supply and demand have a particular relevance to illicit substances such as cannabis, or any drug for that matter. Narcotics are easy to produce, especially cannabis. It is a weed; it grows just about anywhere. It is easy to produce, and the price point of cannabis is, in fact, created largely by its illegal status, which has fuelled the profitability for organized crime and low-level dealers to make a living off the sale of illicit cannabis.

To deal with that market, because clearly the demand in the Northwest Territories is very high, as it is across the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with the Government of Canada and other government partners to resolve outstanding questions on record suspensions for offences related to cannabis possession. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As our report notes, the committee worked with the government to amend the bill to remove the provisions for a cannabis advisory council, as there was no clear indication of what it would be used for and there was a concern that it would allow an unelected body to weigh in on policy decisions that are more properly vested in the standing committee in our unique consensus system. However, there still is need for an internal government approach to future cannabis-based products, high-potency cannabis products, and licensed establishments for cannabis consumption.

As we have...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I think this is an important piece of the puzzle that we need to resolve. I would like to ask for a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a fully costed implementation plan for Bill 6, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Implementation Act, including multi-demographic public education, enforcement planning, and expected cannabis revenues;

And further, that this plan be returned to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and the Standing Committee on Social Development for review prior to legalization day;

And furthermore, that the final plan be made available to the public. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to getting an update on those results. On to the reporting of the action plan. There has been little to no reporting of this action plan that ended in 2016-2017. Will the Minister commit to providing Members of this House, and also the public, with an update that clearly articulates what education renewal has achieved and what the department is going to do moving forward? There are no updates on the website, which is where the public are going to get their information. Can the Minister commit to fixing that, and getting information out to the public...

You know, I appreciate the Minister is relatively new to this portfolio, and it's good to hear that she believes it's unacceptable. So what is she going to do? What kind of tangible, quantifiable changes can the Minister point to that have taken place, specifically in the way we approach student achievement, that the department has undertaken to date?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your intervention. Further, as to what I was saying, the three areas that we identify here as a committee; public education, public awareness, and public health research related to cannabis use, were felt to be the most appropriate uses for any potential cannabisrelated revenues, and these are areas that largely are underdeveloped.

Obviously, we have only begun public education; public awareness is also in its early stages; and public health research is very limited. It's hard to study an illicit substance, and the limited information we have is not a complete...