R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I haven't seen the situation first-hand, but I take my fellow colleagues at their word. If the Member for Nunakput says there is an issue, then I believe there is an issue.

My final question is that, you know, we have had a lot of questions around the table here. It always comes down to how much money we have. The Minister says, "I only have this much money in my budget." Well, I think I've sat running through supplementary estimate deliberations where the government says we need more money, then we sit down and we give them more money. Will the Minister bring forward a...

Maybe the Minister should begin reading his emails, Mr. Speaker.

Earlier, the Member from Yellowknife North brought up the standing offer agreements. The department has standing offer agreements with firms from the south. The Minister stated that northern firms don't have the expertise, and that's why they have to go to the south. What other options has the department looked at? Have they looked at perhaps requiring some northern content when these firms get these agreements, or going to local companies and helping them build that expertise?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank a couple of the Pages from Hay River North, Ms. Charlotte Buth and Ms. Josee Touesnard, who have been here with us all week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 7, Chartered Professional Accountants Act; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 215-18(3), Capital Estimates, 2019-2020, and would like to report progress, and Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Testart.

I figured it would have been more than four members by now, but I know that there are a lot of challenges facing the RCMP in the territory, and you can't just send them all off for training. Hopefully we can get an updated timeline from the Minister about when all that training will be completed.

One concern that we saw in the media was that these roadside testing kits might fail in cold weather, and I want to know from the Minister: what has the department put in place to monitor the occurrence of false positives so that we are not wrongly charging our residents?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This cannabis issue is multi-facetted, so I have some questions for the Minister of Justice. He is not going to get off the hook today. There has been a lot of talk of the roadside testing for cannabis for impaired driving, so I would like an update from the Minister. I believe the NWT has procured these roadside drug-testing kits. Have they been distributed across the territory, and are they available to all officers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

I will rise and report progress. Thank you, committee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want some clarification on that last answer. The Minister is aware that there have been concerns about the reliability, but he is not concerned about the reliability, so there is nothing in place to test the reliability. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.