Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so the process right now is a proponent would have to be designated as a vendor. There are currently three private stores which certainly has, as I think the Member's pointed out, gone up and that it may be one of the explanations simply by fact of having more access that there are now more licensed and legal sales. So there are ongoing processes I understand, and that's some of the other -- and sorry, just to also the privately-run store that is existing as well, which took that off the hands of the government to run. There are RFPs out typically that would go out to see if somebody wants to run a cannabis store in a community, and someone can bid on it. There's been at times difficultly getting people to bid on those RFPs, certainly at least outside of Yellowknife. Yes, and certainly there's -- you know, to the extent that there's interest in that, I -- you know, if we hear there's interest in that then that can drive whether or not more RFPs may want to issue or not. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I guess I'm also sort of thinking -- trying to think a little bit more outside of the box of just the sale of cannabis itself. And the reason I bring this up is I have a constituent who is a cannabis influencer, and they are looking to see ways in which they could, potentially, you know, do growing workshops, things like that, and such as any other business in the Northwest Territories maybe be looking to have some startup cost funding, SEED funding, things like that. And I know that's not this hat today that you're wearing -- or the Minister's wearing. But, you know, I'm curious to know if there's any sort of innovative conversation around this type of business. It is a huge market. There is a lot there. There's tourism things with it. So I guess I'm just curious to hear the Minister speak a bit about that. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Madam Chair, I mean, that's -- I mean, my first reaction is that's interesting. And not to make it too simple of an answer but I don't have a good answer right now on the fly, and I think it actually is one that does deserve a bit more of an answer and one that might, you know -- just more of us going and looking back. I mean, there are certainly restrictions and rules around, you know, even sales of liquor as well as sales of cannabis. I'm certainly hearing, you know, different aspects of that issue in the Northwest Territories, whether or not to regulate a different type of venue. Again, bigger conversation. So if I might suggest, this may be one that if I can just have a bit of time with the department to see what barriers there are within the legislation or regulations, put that to the Member, and then obviously if Members want to push for changes then they would be then well placed to do that knowing exactly what it is that they would need to see changed to achieve the goals described. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, and I would definitely follow up with the Minister for a further conversation with her other hat on as well, with ITI.

And, again, I really do want to be respectful of the conversation around liquor and the damage it has done in the Northwest Territories. However, in Yellowknife, and what I hear from some residents, is the frustration at the liquor store not being opened on Sundays. And it strikes me as quite odd in how we decide to treat cannabis versus liquor where cannabis can be sold on a Sunday and liquor cannot. And I know this is a very complex conversation in the territory but when I do look at Yellowknife, I don't see necessarily why we're not selling alcohol on Sundays. And so is that something that the government or the department is looking to perhaps change in the future, even if it is community-specific and community-driven, which ones do it. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there is -- of course, there has been a review of the Liquor Act in the length of this Assembly, and I would say credit to the standing committee for encouraging that to move forward. There -- and that would be one of the items that can be considered through that process, and it's obviously then a process that includes public consultation. I think the Member sort of stated it much the way I've been receiving information, which is that there's -- what might be workable and appropriate for a large centre such as Yellowknife may not necessarily be reflective of what's wanted by a small community. And part of what would be nice to see in amended liquor legislation is actually to be able to empower individual communities to better reflect what they want without too many hoops, including the desires of the community in Yellowknife which may be different. So not to go too far on the what's coming or what may not be coming in the legislation -- in amended legislation, only to say that that is exactly the kind of balance that needs to be struck therein. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, yeah, I appreciate that's in the little bit that I've seen of that, again not the committee I see on. But I appreciate that is what is being considered. And, again, I think it shows the understanding of the department that it's not going to be a one answer or a one size fits all across the territory.

And then I guess I'll just ask lastly, because I think that usually MLA Johnson asks and he's not going to today, is there a way -- or some others have asked, to actually funnel this money directly into our rehab addiction services, etcetera. And I'm pretty sure I already know what the answer's going to be, but I'll ask again. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I've been asked a lot of questions lately about revolving funds, and I haven't received a lot of positive response to them from the department, from their experts, and there's a number of reasons for that. One of them is if you start to put money into the revolving fund, well for one, if it sits in a revolving fund, it doesn't actually get appropriated and approved in the House. So in terms of being able to maintain control over what the spending actually is by the government, the minute it goes off into a revolving fund it doesn't get approved here. And I would be, you know, remiss as the department -- Minister of Finance for the government to say we shouldn't be appropriating our money here at this Chamber in this process.

Another challenge is that if you put the money in the revolving fund and it's a certain amount but it's not enough, again it's more difficult to necessarily draw from other sources as opposed to the consolidated revenue fund, which is the ultimate bank account of the Government of the Northwest Territories, which is where all the money comes from. So if there's a program or service that starts to be in greater need or become a greater priority as we have seen priorities evolve over the life of the Assembly, it's easy to adjust, again, in the course of where we spend and how we spend if it's part of that overall budgeting process.

And the last comment on this, more specific to the question, Madam Chair, is the addictions side of this issue really is a health and social services area of expertise. The departments did work together because we had, of course, the Liquor Act work going on and the development of the alcohol and addictions strategy happening. So the two leads on that were meeting regularly and I understand were trying to make their work at least not be contradictory one to the other. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you. Then my question is why is it revolving fund to begin with? I really struggle sometimes with understanding the accounting mechanisms that have been set up, the third arm, health's -- you know, the third arm's length health authorities, the housing corp, or NWT Housing not being a department. Like, why did we decide to do it this way; what makes this worthwhile if we can't then control it? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That -- I guess I set myself up for that one. Madam Chair, so, I mean, we have the liquor and cannabis commission, which is the entity responsible for actually doing the sales of the liquor and now cannabis. So the revolving fund really does fund those operations and as soon as they have an excess, they don't make a profit; that money goes back to the consolidated revenue of the Government of the Northwest Territories. But by keeping it separate, they do -- they can run their own operation, and -- yes, separate unto themselves which I would say is not necessarily an area that I'm keen to see myself have to get too involved into the actual buying and selling of the liquor. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything final, Member for Great Slave?

Seeing as the Minister left me, like, 15 seconds, I really do want to ask a question; however just -- I won't. That could be her reward. So thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks.

All right. Are there any further questions under the information items? Seeing none, thank you, Members, please return now to the departmental summary found on page 149. Revenue summary, information items on page 150. Are there any questions? No further questions, I will now call the department summary.

Finance, operations expenditures, total department, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $337,534,000. Member for Frame Lake.

The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Consideration of Department of Finance, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, operating expenditures, total department, is deferred.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Member for Frame Lake, what is the wish of committee?