Debates of May 26, 2005 (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all know the devastating addiction problems we are having in the Northwest Territories. Addictions are ruining our communities and our homes. Alcohol is one of the worst addictions in our communities. With alcohol, we don’t have to find someone to sell it to you. You don’t have to search in back alleys, as it’s always available in communities. In fact, in magazines and on television, they encourage you to buy it and buy a lot of it because they say it will make your life better and you will have more fun with it. Well, they couldn’t be more wrong, Mr. Speaker. I may not be able to get all the alcohol banned from the Northwest Territories, but I would like to see overproof banned from our liquor stores.

Mr. Speaker, regular alcohol is 40 percent proof, but overproof alcohol can be as high as 160 percent. We shouldn’t consider it a legal substance. Transport Canada has already labelled overpoof alcohol as a dangerous good. Why can’t we do that with liquor in the Northwest Territories? When people get hold of overproof alcohol, they don’t realize how dangerous it could be to them and their families. It’s easier to smuggle into communities than beer or wine, which means people get addicted to the real hard substance. They build a tolerance to this level of alcohol and they need more and more to get high.

Alcohol is a controlled substance. We have the power to stop the overproof alcohol from being sold here in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the government to put into some sort of legislation that overproof alcohol will be prohibited from the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

---Applause