Mahsi cho, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I did not express some of my colleague's concern when it comes to the Liquor Act. I know this particular bill is responding or reacting to the act that does not allow for liquor establishments to help the social causes of the community, but it is a reaction and a piecemeal solution to an overall need to revisit the entire act.
Mr. Krutko has said many times in the House and in committee, and I concur with Mr. Krutko, that the act needs to be a little more flexible to allow communities to decide how liquor will be consumed in the communities. The act needs to reflect the desires of the community. I believe 60 percent of the population of a community is going to have to turn out to vote in favour of any changes to the Liquor Act or bylaws associated with the consumption of alcohol in the communities. That is one part.
The other part, which I will take this opportunity to express my concern on, is the lack of facilities in the Northwest Territories where people can go and get assistance in getting off their dependency on alcohol. As a government, we can very easily tax alcohol so that we could use the revenues for whatever reason in the Northwest Territories. It is easy to tax things like cigarettes and alcohol because socially, they are not that acceptable, so it is easy to get the consensus of the people, the masses.
If we are not going to do good with those revenues, such as establishing more treatment centres and staffing them adequately, then as far as I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, we are using liquor as just another easy form of revenue generation. I think this is one area that could be targeted. If any revenues from taxes on liquor and/or cigarettes can be put towards helping people deal with their alcohol problems, which are systemic in a lot of social issues such as lack of housing, lack of education, poor quality of health, children not being able to graduate or do well in school, those could all be targeted towards the consumption of alcohol and the inadequacy of the programs that we deliver as a government.
I would like to ask the Minister, are there are plans by Cabinet or by the government to review the Liquor Act so that we can utilize that act more effectively for the betterment of the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.