Tom Beaulieu

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I wish to speak about alcohol and the effects on the NWT, especially on the Indigenous population. Alcoholism, however, is a disease that affects all people who have alcoholics in their families or social circles, whether it's a co-worker, friend, or somebody else in the community.

Mr. Speaker, let's begin with some facts. According to a recent study of the Canadian Institute for Health Information, in 2016, there were a total of 77,000 hospitalizations entirely due to alcohol, which is more than the number of hospitalizations due to heart attacks for...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when I was talking about not being affected, I was talking about what happened up there, I realized that stuff was delivered in Lutselk'e like it was every other year for years and years.

My other question is: the Minister referred to the cost of trucking fuel into Inuvik, for example, and I would advocate trucking fuel to Tuktoyaktuk, but Inuvik would be another situation. Has the MTS looked at the possibility of making or building something like a Synchro Lift that could pull the barges and ships up on shore in Inuvik to see if that is something that is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the answer, either, and I don't think anyone does. It is next to impossible to get somebody to buy alcohol off a bootlegger then see the whole thing through to court. Therefore, people just don't engage in that. Like the Minister said, small town, no one wants to be seen as the person that is blowing the whistle on bootleggers, even though no one likes them.

Is there a possibility, then, that, not in communities, where you would restrict alcohol? I recognize that some of those things in the past have failed, but where the liquor stores...

One of the key issues in the communities is bootlegging. I know that the government put some money into general revenues, and then, this rolled out. I know that the social envelope gets their fair share, but I'm not sure that there is anything that is in there at all in all of government that directly combats bootlegging.

I'd like to ask the Minister if there is any possibility that there could just be a pot of money that comes from the sale of alcohol hearing what he just said, but if they could reconsider this and put something directly into combatting bootlegging?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if there is any sort of policy that surrounds employment numbers. In my Member's statement, I referred to the dismal employment numbers that we have in the communities that I represent. I would like to ask the Minister, when spending money from the government for business development, if that is taken into consideration. Are employment numbers taken into consideration when spending money for any businesses in any of the communities in the territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In my Member's statement, I referred to some of the businesses that are potential businesses in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. I would like to ask if the Minister would direct the Business Development and Investment Corporation to send business development officers into the communities to meet with the community groups in order to flesh out what other possibilities may exist in the community for small business.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to talk about small businesses in the communities that I represent. First, I would like to share some employment statistics about the four communities in the riding. According to Stats Canada, in 2016 the average employment rate in Canada was 60.2 per cent, whereas in the NWT, it sat at 66.2. Comparatively, Fort Resolution's employment rate is 49.3 per cent; Lutselk'e, 45.7; Detah was 44.4; and Ndilo was 26.5 per cent. Imagine, Mr. Speaker, almost three quarters of your working-age people do not have jobs.

Mr. Speaker, with this dismal...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the committee would like to consider Bill 8, Emergency Management Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.