I firmly believe that. I would not stand up and support this if I didn't practise it. I'm proud of the fact that I can come down to Yellowknife, meet with my colleagues and we don't go running off to the bar after a hard day of debating Bill No. 8. That's the type of leadership we need. We shouldn't be up here saying do as I say not as I do. We have to practise what we preach because you can say all the words that you want, you can talk until you're blue in the face, but people will see you and they'll judge you by the way you carry yourself and the kind of lifestyle you lead. So that's the type of role models that we should have in place.

Mr. Speaker, I've seen many cases where alcohol has prevented, like the motion said, people from succeeding. People will do well, they think they can have, oh, one or two drinks and I'm fine, but there's an old song where one is one too many and a thousand's not enough. I don't know if you remember that, but that was from the early '70s. So some of us that are old enough will remember it.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important motion and I've seen families where there is no alcohol in the home, but the kids still run into the parties and the drinking. Why? Because it's normal and it's expected of you. If you're a teenager growing up today, the peer pressure is

unbelievable because not only is there alcohol, there's all the drugs that are out there and there's all these people selling drugs and driving these nice skidoos, they've got fancy vehicles and kids look up to them. They say oh man, I've got to live like that, but they're scum, Mr. Speaker, to put it quite bluntly. They live off of the abuse and the addictions of people. So I have absolutely no respect for anyone that carries on any kind of work like that, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, I've seen kids from homes where there's no alcohol and that. The easiest thing you can do is just go with the current, it's the easiest thing you can do, but if you want to test the intestinal fortitude of anybody, swim against the current. There's very few people that swim against the current.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know how much plainer I can make it, but alcohol is, as Bobby said, it's the aboriginals' worst enemy, it's a lot of people in the Territories worst enemy and we have to get the message out there and it starts with the leadership. We have to get the message out there that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable anymore, it's not normal anymore. There used to be a time when it was normal and it was expected, but I'm starting to believe that some of that attitude is starting to change because I do see some people who have turned their lives around. I have nothing but the utmost respect for these people because it's a difficult thing to do. Mr. Speaker, I say that from experience because I've been through that, I've been through that. It started at 12 until I was, like, 23. It was a problem that I had, it affected me and all the people around me, but 12 years old, but it was expected of you at the time. So we all did it. But as you grow older and you start having a family, you realize that this is not the way to be and this is the message that we have to get out there. I've said twice and I will say again, it starts with the leadership and it's not do as I say, but not as I do. Thank you.

---Applause