Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Government of the Northwest Territories has several strong and successful programs to support entrepreneurship and economic development opportunities, including the Support to Entrepreneurs and Economic Development, SEED, Policy.

The government has done some really good stuff and good work on there. This motion here is to encourage the government to repeat that Northerners are eager to pursue the economic benefits of legalization and to target programming addressing cannabis-specific planning and programs that would help local businesses. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wish to have a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories form an interagency working group to address cannabisrelated enforcement planning. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop curricula to deliver evidence-based health and safety education respecting both cannabis and alcohol, through the territorial education system. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand we reduced Commissioner's land from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. Great, but the seniors still get a 50 per cent reduction in that, so I am hoping the department will actually look at that and start implementing it, as they are doing it right now for Commissioner's lands, for NWT lands. My next question, though, is in regard to the engagement. How did the department engage these people, the 170 lessees in the Nahendeh riding? How were they consulted about this change of fees?

I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess his definition of "reasonable" is not what my definition of "reasonable" is, so maybe we will have to get his dictionary and I will compare it with my dictionary. Can the Minister please explain how this huge increase is helping residents in my riding deal with the high cost of living when some find it very difficult to pay the lease payments as they are presently?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the Grand Chief of the Dehcho First Nations, Herb Norwegian, who received the Glen Davis Conservation Leadership Prize on May 24, 2018. The World Wildlife Fund of Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society awarded Mr. Norwegian for his decades of work on the Dehcho Land Use Plan. Mr. Norwegian takes pride in his work and is humbled by receiving this award. I would like to personally congratulate and thank the Grand Chief for all the work he does, and for the work he will continue to do in the future for our region. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate everybody speaking on this behalf. I guess this recommendation is being proactive instead of reactive, so we are trying to be proactive and are trying to move forward. We've heard that there is the potential of it to fail and there is potential to be successful, but it is no different than any other business. If you do a good plan, you are going to be successful, you know, and right now that's what we are trying to do, is we are trying to develop programs that will help the people be successful that put a good plan together. That, to me, is what we are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommend that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop economic development programming to support northern entrepreneurship related to cannabis sales and production. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that commitment to get that clarified. The other one is Charles Tetcho School, the addition here I did speak to when we had the briefing this morning. I noticed that it's an $891,000 carry-over. Is that information available, or is that something that we can get later on? Thank you, Mr. Chair.