Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk to the Minister of Finance on the liquor restriction that the Town of Norman Wells had a vote and it was lifted. It’s in effect. I want to ask the Minister if he’s willing to look at the regional approach to deal with opening this piece of legislation so that the communities within the Sahtu can have a say into the operations of the Norman Wells liquor store through the Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m aware of the Member’s concerns and some of the folks in his constituency. The issue of the Liquor Act and changing it away from a law of general application to one of regional application is one that I am prepared to look at as Minister to see what’s possible. I’m prepared to sit down with the Member if he wants to have discussions or he wants to put his fingers to the keyboard and lay out the very specific question that he may be contemplating. We would, of course, give it our full attention.
Maybe I could make some music here if I put my fingers to the keyboard on this piece of legislation. I want to ask the Minister when we have some discussions to look at the existing Liquor Act and looking at the regional approach to the Sahtu, that the Minister can also look at ways that this legislation will then allow the regional people to have another say at this recent plebiscite.
If we’re going to in fact make music together, we’ll have to ensure that it’s not a sad song, because I understand from the questions in the House yesterday that the Member has a broken heart as a result of devolution, so we’ll have to be very careful what kind of music we make. As I’ve indicated, I’m more than willing to sit down with the Member and talk the specifics.
I want to ask the Minister, if he’s good with lyrics maybe he could write the song “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart.” I want to ask the Minister, in his estimation, working with this Cabinet on this existing liquor law, can we look at something maybe by, for example, the May/June session that we could look at contemplating a new Liquor Act that would seek the support of the Members, of course, and also for the Sahtu communities.
The cure for the broken heart the Member is referring to, of course, is to sign the Devolution Agreement, and the authorities and money will flow and he’ll feel much better.
In terms of his specific request on the Liquor Act, the Member is very well aware that the average timeline is about two years for amendments, but before we even get to that point we have to have the fundamental discussion about laws of general application and can we make laws of that nature in the Liquor Act. Can we tailor them region by region when people have broad rights that they have given to them under the Canadian Charter and Canadian Constitution. We will have that initial discussion and then we will see where that takes us.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think my song on the devolution is “A Long and Winding Road.” I want to ask the Finance Minister when we look at a piece of legislation like that, can he work with his colleagues to look at types of support that the people have expressed through the Sahtu leadership meeting on programs, such as the Minister of Health and Social Services has conveyed to my people when we did our tour, and get people back on the land to do the spiritual healing?
The Member is in the legislative legends with his song “If I Had a Million Dollars” and if you sign the deal with devolution, you’ll have over $300 million, so I think you should just keep that one in mind as he’s making music.
We will have the discussion about the legislation, the issue about the programs that are best held with the Minister of Health and Social Services. There’s been a democratic vote that’s been taken, a decision has been made by the voters in Norman Wells, and we have acted upon that as we are required to do and obligated to do under our democratic system. If we want to change that particular system, then we have to have that very fundamental discussion that we’ve talked about earlier today.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
