Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was pretty much involved with the Standing Committee on Legislation in its review of the rewrite of the Liquor Act. I heard a lot of concerns expressed about alcohol in the territories, the use or misuse of it, and the concerns this was causing people. We heard a lot of concerns and some suggestions, but I don't think we came across with anything that was really definitive. There were as many opinions as people who made presentations. We wrote our report accordingly. We found that the paper was difficult to review in so far as it did not endorse specific actions, but, I, nonetheless, stand by our report.

I don't think that putting a plebiscite out to the public at this time is the way to deal with this issue. There are more issues under the Liquor Act than just this one item. If we're going to have a plebiscite on every item in here, then I think it's not an effective way of dealing with it. I believe that plebiscites are instruments to deal With fiercely contended burning issues of the day, rather than issues such as the one we're going to be dealing with here. I feel that from many points of view -- I speak as a parent, as a social worker and as a Member of this Legislative Assembly -raising the drinking age to 21 is not the answer. If the intent is to find that out, then I think this is not going to resolve any of our problems.

We have made some suggestions in the report as to how we can best deal with this matter. Until the next government that comes in is prepared to make some changes to this law, I think we've done what we have been assigned to do. I can't second-guess the committee on this, and I won't. Therefore, I won't support the motion. Thank you.