Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I have Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to ask a question to the Minister about the review of the Liquor Act in light of this section here on this budget.

Mr. Menicoche mentioned the example of AADAC in Alberta where not only do they do that, I think that commission is responsible for the roles that our liquor board or Liquor Licensing Board -- I think it is combined -- the work that our liquor board does and the Liquor Commission. Also, AADAC funds money for at least three alcohol and drug treatment programs in Alberta. They fund the Poundmakers in part and they fund the Henwood. They also fund alcohol and drug treatment in northern Alberta. They also do a lot of publications. I am

just wondering if the terms of reference for the review that is being undertaken has the mandate to look at that bigger picture. I had a cursory review of the terms of reference. It is written very technically. It is a process-oriented paper. I am still not clear about exactly what that review has been asked to do and whether or not their mandate has enough power to go abroad and say okay, maybe we are not doing enough on....If we are going to do it, we should do it right, and we should open that up. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess, just to be clear, that the Alberta Liquor Commission -- and that comparison is being mentioned right now -- is different than the AADAC commission or the commission on alcohol and drug use in Alberta. As a government, we would have to look at what we need to do and commit to working with our partners as an overall government. What we have to show here on this page 3-31, when you look at the surplus that comes out of the liquor revolving fund, that goes directly into the consolidated revenue fund. So this fund does not stay there and continue to grow. It gets put back into the government coffers to be used for programs and services in that area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To put it another way, does the review of the Liquor Act that is currently underway, that the Minister has mentioned in his opening statement, does that review include reviewing the role and mandate of the Liquor Commission as it currently exists? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is the Liquor Act that involves the Liquor Licensing Board and the process there. So, yes, that will look at it as we go through this process. As well, the review that's happening will do a comparison to other jurisdictions, the practices in those other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Once again, I will just wait to see what the initial review of that is and make further comments. On page 3-31 that we are on, the figures show that the revised estimate for 2004-05 is less than what was projected in the main estimates. For next year, we are looking at a lesser amount being budgeted than this current year. Are we looking at a downward trend in the consumption of alcohol, or what is the basis for reducing this budget? In particular, why is there an almost $900,000 difference between what was estimated for this year and what seems to be the actual amount for this year? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason it's down is there has been a drop in liquor sales from what was estimated the previous year. There are a number of factors that play into that. One is as we've looked at it; there is a reduction in liquor sales in some of the establishments. So that is one of the areas that is causing that to drop, as well as we can say maybe some of the programs that are out there are starting to have some effect on the consumption. Right now we are seeing a drop in the sales and are going forward on that basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. That's good, Ms. Lee? There is nobody else on the list. We are on page 3-31.

Page 3-32.

Page 3-33. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has there been any thought about regionalizing the liquor board staff? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Liquor Commission is in one community right now and there's no intention of breaking that further out, beyond what level of service is provided to date. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will cross my fingers hoping that some potential development happens in the Northwest Territories. Does the Minister foresee the possibility of regionalizing some of the staff members in terms of the increase of resource development down the Mackenzie Valley? Would he consider putting some part-time people in the regions to assist in the operations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The 12 identified positions, including the casual, are ones for the support of the operation of the Liquor Commission. What is not included in that is the sales end of it, the warehousing and so on. That has all been privatized. So that's where there are liquor outlets, contracts let out and they have their own staff through the contracts. We also have contract liquor inspectors who are in different communities and have been working to recruit more. There was some difficulty in having liquor inspectors in all the communities that have sales, but that is something we have been working to improve. So there are two ends of it; one is the administrative support role, which is a small crew that work in this area. Again, we don't see much changing in that area because there isn't going to be much growth in there. The changes that will happen are if there are more outlets. In that case, there will be contracts and through those contracts they will be able to hire staff for their operations. Thank you.