Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I spoke to in my Member's statement, the Department of Finance has come forward with a number of recommendations, changes to the Liquor Act. One of the ones I was specifically happy to see was four changes to special occasion permits. These are the permits that, you know, festivals often have to get and special events such as weddings. One was to streamline the process. Another one was to perhaps allow an annual special occasion permit for those events that happen every single year. And another one was to allow, in certain cases, whole site consumption. So not necessarily to have a beer garden but to be able to just sell alcohol on the site of the festival or event. My question for the Minister of Finance is when will these recommendations be done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process of getting a significant piece of legislation like this together requires, firstly, that there be a legislative proposal. I can certainly commit that that is going to happen in the life of this Assembly. It then does go over to committee and then would back and then go out for drafting. So it's a more complex and lengthy process than what perhaps a lot of folks realize. I would say, though, some good news, Mr. Speaker, out of the four items that are listed as four recommendations, the first of the four, to streamline processes, streamlining a process should always be a priority and while, you know, the other recommendations should form part of a cohesive legislative proposal, I can say that certainly looking at ways to streamline that process now doesn't need to wait for that, and I will certainly look at doing that in an expedited fashion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to hear that we will be streamlining the process. I know it has been quite difficult for many and, you know, it's not fun to have a special occasion and then not be able to sell alcohol. And in many cases, the nonprofits running them is it's how they actually fund the entire festival.
My question, I guess I'm still a bit confused about whether this is actually going to happen. I heard we're going to get a legislative proposal. And another one of the examples in the recommendation report was that the recommendation to remove the requirement for retail outlets to be closed on Sundays, holidays, and election days. So I guess my question to the Minister is, is this actually going to happen; are we going to see that requirement removed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the actual question is whether we're going to see requirements removed or not, it's really not a final decision that rests with me to pass the legislation all on my own. I am going to bring forward the legislative proposal. As I've said, it then goes to committee, and upon committee's recommendation is when the drafting instructions do go out. But I think really what we're getting at here is the time that it does take to craft, firstly, complex legislative proposals; and secondly, to do the drafting instructions for complex pieces of legislation. I mean, the Liquor Act itself is almost 70 pages. The regulations are well over 70 pages. And they have been modified piecemeal over the years. We don't want to do that again. We want this to be modernized. We want it to be cohesive. So, again, the LP's going to come forward sorry, the legislative proposal will come forward, and I certainly will, and am now, do whatever I can to ensure that we have processes in place to see that it does get where it needs to go in the life of this Assembly but some of those timelines will be out of my hands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, and, you know what, I've read through all of these recommendations and sometimes they're identified as legislative; sometimes clearly we can just do them. Specifically one that caught my eye was the recommendation to allow hospitality rooms in manufacturing facilities. That is if a brewery decides to open, they could be able to sell beer there. I'm just wondering if the Minister could give me a timeline on when this is going to happen, or is this also tied to a legislative proposal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, Mr. Speaker, the ideal here is to not wind up piecemealing the act or the regulations any further than what they have been already historically. And so the intention was to take all of the recommendations as a cohesive unit, put them together, and to develop a new piece of legislation and regulations that would support it. So now that said, there's really only the one brewery that I'm aware of and so perhaps they should be, you know, looking to work with the current licensing board if there are existing pathways by which they could achieve their goals now while we are getting to the place where the new legislation, hopefully in whatever format it finds, is ready to be passed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I just want to give a bit of an explanation to the public here, that the legislative proposal goes to committee but the legislative proposal does not mean we will see legislation in the life of this Assembly. And I know that some of this is out of the Minister's hands but I believe with proper political will and, you know, some working with committee, we could pass the Liquor Act in the remaining year of this Assembly. And I really believe it is what we should do or else we risk all of this work just simply being a waste of time and not being done by the next Assembly because different Assemblies have different priorities. So my question for the Minister of Finance is will she bring forward amendments to the Liquor Act in the life of this Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also was relieved in some ways when I had received the recommendations and the report. And the reason I say that is that the fact of managing and dealing with liquor and the sale and production and transport of liquor can be divisive but the report does do, in my view, a good job of finding that balance and operating in a way that, you know, encourages safety, encourages consumption. So I am certainly committed to seeing those recommendations come forward.
I had the pleasure of appearing in front of committee quite recently, and the message of finding a way forward was received loud and clear. And as I say, I am doing my best to find a pathway by which we can achieve that goal collectively. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
