Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the idea of drawing attention to the issue of alcohol abuse and bringing it up by way of a theme day in the Legislature today and then following that this motion is being brought forward by the Members was decided on, or the idea was contemplated, in the previous Assembly as Members of this House are keenly aware, and have talked many times amongst ourselves, about the devastating effects of alcohol abuse on our communities, families and many friends.
Mr. Speaker, the denormalization of alcohol, the reason why we put it in that context is because, personally, I am afraid that we have become too accustomed to the plight and the misery, in many cases, of people who have become involved with alcohol and then are addicted to it and, in fact, in many instances, it just takes over their life. It permeates every aspect of their life and has many consequences for themselves, their families and for the people around them.
The excessive use of alcohol impairs people's judgement. They do things they wouldn't normally do. I was talking to someone the other day. I said, what would ever possess people knowing the consequences of something like crack cocaine to ever take that first chance and take that first hit of crack cocaine? What would ever allow people who are in their right minds to do something like that? This person pointed out, well, they didn't do it when they were cold sober, necessarily. They were probably in a bar and they probably had a few drinks and they probably weren't thinking clearly. But that, unfortunately, is the case for so many risky and devastating activities that people become involved in. People's judgement is impaired. They go out on the land. They go hunting. They go fishing. They get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. They get in accidents. All kinds of people who are of sound mind, who would never dream of taking risks, all of a sudden, under the influence of alcohol, will engage in activities that could result in very negative consequences for them and quite often death of young people in the Northwest Territories.
These same people under the influence of alcohol cannot think clearly about consequences such as practising unsafe sex, which leads to our astronomical reports of sexually transmitted diseases and potential spread of HIV/AIDS and all of these things which come to our attention through the statistics that are reported about the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that there is a responsible consumption of alcohol, as well. This motion is not intended to condemn anyone. This is just to arrest ourselves and say look at what alcohol is doing to the North and look at what alcohol is doing to our people. Of course there are those who consume alcohol responsibly, but many times in order to take a stand or to be the example or to set an example for our children, sometimes we would have to say, well, you know, it might be a
sacrifice, but that is a sacrifice we will be willing to make to send a strong message to set an example for a younger person or for someone that may be watching us as role models.
As a government, we want the best for our constituents. We want better education programs. We want the best health care. We want the best housing programs. We want the best of everything for our constituents. One of the things that is consuming a tremendous amount of our financial resources is the money we expend to address the aftermath of alcohol abuse. I can only imagine what we would be able to do with those financial resources if we did not have to expend so much of our time, energy and money trying to deal with these outcomes.
Mr. Speaker, I know the other Members are going to have a lot of very valuable things to add on this, so I don't think I will go on about it any longer. I thank the Members for standing together today on this issue and telling the people in the North that we recognize there is a problem and together we need to find solutions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause