The Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions has prepared a report on the Alcohol and Drug Board of Management. We've already read the report into the record, so I would just like to make a few comments. There is one motion in the report, but I would like to give other Members of the committee the opportunity to make comments.

Alcohol and drug abuse is one of the most serious problems facing northerners today. As a result, the funding of alcohol and drug programs has always been a sensitive and important issue in the debates of this Assembly.

Over the past few years, concerns related to the Alcohol and Drug Board of Management were raised regularly by Members in the House, but even with these concerns, the government still eliminated the board at the end of the 1992-93 fiscal year. The Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions is disappointed that the government eliminated this board without having consulted the Assembly, either as a whole or through the standing committee. Previous government initiatives to eliminate boards included consultation with the standing committee. The elimination of the alcohol and drug board of management, we felt, should not have taken place without similar consultation.

The standing committee contacted representatives of a number of alcohol and drug programs across the Northwest Territories. The responses received suggest that relations between the department and the various alcohol and drug programs need to be improved. The department must be more attentive to input from alcohol and drug workers. As well, the standing committee feels that there must be some means of monitoring the effectiveness of grants and contributions to alcohol and drug programs.

With those brief comments, Mr. Chairman, and before I get into the recommendation made by the committee, I think we should give other Members of the committee an opportunity to make some general remarks. Mahsi.