Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the conclusion of my statement, if it's the wish of the House, I have the deputy minister available for participation in committee of the whole.
I am pleased to present, today, the matter of dealing with Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act. One of the substantive amendments to this bill has come about as the result of concerns raised by communities in the Northwest Territories. These concerns centre on the issue of local control of liquor through plebiscites.
A number of communities have approached the department to express their concern about the range of options presently available under the Liquor Act for the control of liquor after a licensed establishment has been operating for a number of years. In many cases, the concerns raised by communities are an indication of the growing maturity of the communities, especially their growing determination to gain control of liquor problems. These communities have told us that they want to have the ability to gain greater control of the sale and consumption of liquor.
The amendments we are putting forward will enable a community with a licensed premise to hold a plebiscite to create an alcohol education committee in communities where licensed premises already exist. The committee cannot use this form of plebiscite to shut down a licensed establishment and, indeed, that may not be of primary concern because licensed premises have strict rules about the serving of liquor and the licence holder must abide by these rules or risk losing their licence entirely.
The amendment will certainly enable the community to gain greater control over who may consume liquor and how much they may consume privately -- that is outside a licensed premises.
A second substantive amendment came about as a result of concern within the department about ministerial prohibition orders. When communities decide to hold special events such as arts festivals, regional local sporting events, or special cultural or religious activities, they often seek a special order of the Minister prohibiting the sale or consumption of alcohol. Until now, the ability to enforce such prohibitions did not exist.
With the amendments we are putting forward today, ministerial orders prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol in designated geographical areas for set periods of time will be enforceable.
The other amendments contained in Bill 4 can be characterized as administrative in nature. I would highlight one amendment in this category: section 8, which amends section 85 of the act, which deals with supplying alcohol to persons under 19 years of age. This amendment came about as a result of an unsuccessful prosecution concerning the sale of liquor to a person under the age of 19 years. The judge in the case relied on the current wording of the section which essentially prevented the conviction of the accused. The amendments we are putting forward will close that loophole.
Although the changes we are proposing to the Liquor Act are relatively minor, they will help us administer the act more fairly until we are able to bring about a whole new statute, hopefully within this next year. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am ready to answer the questions of the committee.