Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the federal government appointed a task force to study the legalization and regulation of cannabis, and that task force delivered a report in December of 2016. One of the recommendations of that task force was that there be no co-location of alcohol and cannabis sales, wherever possible. When co-location cannot be avoided, appropriate safeguards must be put in place.
Mr. Chair, this finding was based on the public engagement that the task force did with Canadians, and it came with the following rationale: "Given the wide use and availability of liquor stores, concerns were raised about product promotion and exposing a larger population to cannabis products should sales be co-located, as well as the impact on cannabis consumers who are trying to avoid alcohol. Many also noted that this approach could help mitigate co-use, given what we've heard about the risk of co-use on health and with alcohol, the exponential effect on impairment. In all of the US states that have legalized cannabis, there is a ban on the co-location of sales of cannabis and alcohol."
Mr. Chair, there are also some statistics provided that put this problem into perspective: 80 per cent of adult Canadians use alcohol, while only 11 per cent use cannabis. The Chief Medical Health Officers of Canada believe there is a risk of cannabis being introduced to a larger number of Canadians who otherwise might not bother using it because it will be readily available in the same space. What they argue is that the potential for increasing the rates of use and co-use run counter to public health objectives of harm-reduction and prevention, so preventing co-location is part of the precautionary approach to this issue.
As we know, the government is planning to use liquor stores to sell cannabis, and the liquor stores are located in six different NWT communities. Mr. Chair, only one of these communities could be described as small and remote, and that's Norman Wells, which has no regular road access and has fewer than a thousand people. All of the other liquor stores are in larger communities, in which there is a commercial rent market, so I do believe that it's possible to direct vendors to create separate retail spaces for the two different products.
This is not a huge ask, Mr. Chair. This is a matter of renovating retail space and making room for two separate products. It's worth noting, as well, that cannabis will not require the kind of space that alcohol does. The product is small and light and will be available in infinitely fewer varieties than alcohol is, so we're not talking about having to have a large space, simply a separate space.
Most jurisdictions in in Canada have heeded the advice of the task force on co-location but not here, in the NWT. In our public hearings, we didn't hear from anyone who supported co-location. In fact, we heard the opposite. I want to draw your attention to the remarks by Florence Catholique of Lutselk'e, who is quoted in the Bill 6 report that we discussed yesterday, in which she said, "I totally disagree with having the cannabis sold to us at liquor stores. It's also very tempting to buy a bottle."
So those are the reasons that I am requesting Members support this motion to not allow co-location of cannabis and alcohol in the same retail space, and I look forward to your support. Thank you.