Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's response. It's not really the response to my question, but I understand he has engaged with this indicator. I think the fact that there has been no statistical change in the number of hospitalizations due entirely to drinking is a reason to look at new approaches, and one of those is having clinicians do this pre-screening to identify and offer solutions for heavy drinking. Is the Minister prepared to look at this initiative? Thank you.

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...

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.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you can see that we are tag-teaming together on the topic of the addictions centres. As I mentioned in my statement, there are steps that I feel the Minister could investigate to help recovering addicts with their long-term recovery beyond the initial addictions-recovery stage. The first and most important, in my mind, based on the tour that we did is that people coming out of addiction treatment centres should not be discharged into housing. The Minister, I know, heard this point as well during our tour, so what is his take on the importance of housing to...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and welcome Margaret Thom in the gallery. We need more strong leaders like Margaret in this house. Thank you.

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.