Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Briefly, I think. This is very positive legislation. I'm going to be voting in favour of it. It continues to take a product and I guess something that's been accepted in virtually every society and civilization in the world and we're trying to change people's attitudes about it after many, many generations of normality, in fact even desirability. We're now saying that we've got to change our attitudes and we're showing some signs of success. So these changes in societal behaviour are big projects that do not show immediate return, but from what I understand, the trends are there, and it is a reality. Now I've picked up from some of our community tours on this that it is now becoming uncool to smoke. When we hear that kind of thing, even in the smallest, perhaps quietest way, it signals that we're getting to a tipping point in the attitude of society and I really hope that we can continue with that.
Mr. Chairman, it's sort of in that respect that I would like to take this initiative and expand it into that other legal but very troublesome product, and that is alcohol, and hope that through the upcoming review of the Liquor Act and other progressive things that we can do as a Legislature and as a department, that we can undertake the same kind of commitment to the way our society regards and uses and abuses alcohol and the damage that it causes. I think that is our next challenge and I hope we can build on the successes and resolve that we're showing in tobacco control and demonstrate the same thing legislatively in alcohol.
If I have a bit of a context or a question that I am going to put to the Minister and his staff, Mr. Chair, it would be in a bit of a snapshot of what is the current known use of tobacco in the Northwest Territories? What are our levels of consumption? What is the trend in tobacco use here in the Northwest Territories? Have we got any targets or measurements that we hope to attain over time through the introduction of this new act and any of the measures that are ongoing, Mr. Chair?