Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that within the bounds of the Liquor Act, as we know it, it is set up as a piece of business, administration law and, to some degree, covers control and enforcement. But in the course of reviewing a number of the departments in the social envelope leading up to this budget, Madam Chair, it just gets reinforced that liquor plays such a large part in the damage and the violence, abuse, and the unnecessary hurt and death that occurs in the NWT. We hear indications from our medical professionals, from our justice professionals, from our mental health and education people.
I don't see any evidence, Madam Chair, of our departments really taking this on, from a proactive and a preventative point of view. So many of our measures are reactive in the sense of trying to enforce, control or punish, rather than prevent. This is where I would like to see a review of the Liquor Act go, Madam Chair.
I would like to encourage the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to broaden the review so that we can take a look in a much more holistic way at how we, as a government, administer liquor both as a legal substance -- it's been around for a long time and we are not going to shake it -- but the way we deal with it, manage it and help young people make decisions about this stuff. We just aren't doing enough. I would encourage the Minister to take up this as part of the mandate. Please do not just restrict it to a piece of business and tax legislation. Please go further. That's my plea and comment for now. Thank you, Madam Chair.