Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am always learning something about this job. For example, I learned that it is the official vision of the NWT Liquor Commission that “our customers will have a healthy and responsible attitude towards alcohol consumption.” The vision is backed by the mission which includes promoting development of a healthy and responsible drinking culture.
When I see what’s going on in most NWT communities, I think there’s a way to go before the Liquor Commission vision and mission become a reality. The reality is consistent with some of the facts from the commission’s annual report. The Liquor Commission sells $46 million worth of hard liquor, beer and wine a year and makes a 53 percent profit on it.
Our government sells more hard liquor – spirits as we call it – than beer, at least by the dollar value. That’s $19.5 million a year, or 42 percent of total sales of alcohol.
What does that tell us about our drinking and how responsible we are as drinkers? Well, in British Columbia the sale of hard liquor is only 26 percent of the total. It looks to me like people there drink more responsibly than we do. It’s too bad we don’t have any statistics about how much hard liquor our system sells to the bootleggers. I guess it’s quite a bit. They don’t buy a lot of wine or beer. Selling booze to bootleggers is probably quite profitable to our government’s Liquor Commission. How responsible is that, Mr. Speaker?
I could go on about the health indicators that suggest our territory suffers from an unhealthy and irresponsible drinking culture. So how is the NWT Liquor Commission going to live up to their mission to change that? It looks like the commission spends $38,000 a year on communicating and advertising. That’s a bit more than one-tenth of 1 percent of the commission’s profits. That’s a pitiful investment. We get warning stickers on bottles, a couple of brochures, a booklet and some posters. I think it’s only fair to say that’s little more than token half-hearted lip service.
We suggest that the commission’s profits go 10 percent to the direct health and benefits of the mission statement like the smoking cessation program. More needs to be done if you are going to have a healthy and responsible drinking culture.
I’d like to ask the Finance Minister some questions later on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
