Julie Green

I appreciate the frankness of the Minister's response and appreciate that he will make time to read this report. I am hoping that the pricing question as well as the liquor store open hours question will come up sooner rather than later. As I mentioned, indexing the cost of alcohol to both alcohol content and to inflation makes sure that alcohol remains an expensive product for people to use. Will the Minister review these options and, again, consult with the Minister of Finance on increasing prices to reflect alcohol impact?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce my partner, Janice McKenna, owner and operator of McKenna Funeral Home, and with her is Mr. Todd Reinholt of Edmonton. He is a specialist in grief and healing grief. He presented a public seminar on that topic in Yellowknife last night. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table a report with the title "Alcohol Harm in Canada - Examining Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol Harm." Mahsi.

Thank you to my colleague the Minister of Health. While our prices may be high, our alcohol harm is also high, so I don't think we should rule that out as a possibility.

Another possibility that came out of the report, one that is totally within the discretion of the Minister of Health, is to have clinicians screen their patients to identify harmful drinking patterns. The screening is a few questions that is then followed with a very brief counselling session aimed at increasing the awareness of heavy drinking and referral to care. Will the Minister investigate the implementation of this...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services, although the Ministers I discussed in my Member's statement, I realize, straddle both health and finance responsibilities. However, the primary purpose of my suggestions is to reduce alcohol harm rather than to increase revenue from alcohol sales generally, so my first suggestion is about reducing liquor store hours, since longer opening hours are related to both impaired driving and alcohol-related hospitalization. Will the Minister work with his colleague, the Minister of Finance, to examine the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I talked about dealing with addictions. Today I want to talk about prevention. Here in the NWT we know the harm alcohol does to residents and communities, but you may be surprised to hear that more people were hospitalized in Canada in 2015-2016 for alcohol, the harmful effects of alcohol, than for heart attacks. This is one of the findings of the Report on Alcohol Harm in Canada published last summer by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

The report concludes that provinces and territories with higher alcohol sales also have a higher...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. He is obviously taking a very proactive approach with this. Since our tour, I have learned about pharmaceutical supports that support sobriety and a harm-reduction model. There is a drug called Vivitrol which is administered monthly, and it dampens cravings. It assists people in staying sober. Could the Minister also commit to investigating the costs and benefits of offering this drug to people in recovery? Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for that response. I feel it is safe to say that this will be one of the recommendations of our report. I am wondering if the Minister can be proactive and commit to investigating this idea and presenting back an idea of the costs and benefits of ensuring that all of the people who are coming out of addictions treatment centres are discharged into appropriate housing?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in December, I joined my colleagues, including the Member for Nahendeh, on the Standing Committee on Social Development and the Minister of Health and Social Services for a tour of the four facilities which the government has contracts with as described by my colleague. I came away with a greater understanding of what is offered at these treatment centres and what we can do to strengthen after-care.

The four centres have a common approach shaped by the AA 12-step program with its focus on abstinence and peer support. Clients are offered group and individual...

Thank you for that response. The treatment facilities that we visited provided a range of after-care. Some of it was on the phone. Some of it was online. Some of it was an invitation to return for sort of additional treatment.