Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Members of the Legislative Assembly, our debates this session have made it clear that the people of the Northwest
Territories confront a multitude of social and economic problems that stand as barriers to a better northern society and a worthwhile future.
One very serious problem we face is the problem of alcohol. I know I have been troubled this session with the amount of time we have spent discussing the many different ways that alcohol afflicts northern society. It would be a sorry revelation to go back through the departmental budgets and total up the precious dollars we allocate to cleaning up the damage caused by alcohol in one way or another.
In the Transportation portfolio, alcohol appears as the menace of impaired driving. Impaired driving has been a criminal offence for almost 30 years now and still there are so many who have yet to get the message. It is a crime to operate a high-speed and heavy piece of machinery on a public road with poor reflexes and faulty judgement. Driving is a public activity. Impaired driving is a crime against society. The impaired driver is a dangerous threat to anyone and everyone close by; passengers, people in other vehicles and pedestrians.
These observations seem so painfully obvious and still people insist on drinking and driving. They kill or injure their passengers, smash into other vehicles and run over pedestrians. Many of those who survive are maimed or crippled for life.
Already this year, impaired drivers have caused too many deaths and injuries on our highways. Impaired drivers have no excuse for the pain, misery and suffering they have thoughtlessly inflicted on others. I am angry and I intend to do something about it, Mr. Speaker.
I have instructed the Department of Transportation's motor vehicles division to arrange with the RCMP and our highway patrol officers to carry out a series of checkstop operations on our highways. For a start, I have asked them to begin with Highway 3 between Yellowknife and Rae-Edzo, where several deaths have occurred most recently. People have told me that they are frightened and anxious travelling this section of highway because of the numbers of impaired drivers on it. We will find them and take them off the road, Mr. Speaker.
One should never make promises one cannot keep; much as I might like, it would be foolhardy for me to tell the Legislative Assembly that I will put a stop to drinking and driving. However, I can and will tell the Members that I am going to put a dent in it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
--- Applause