Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] I made my Member's statement regarding addictions. Now the government is making money from alcohol, and all that money goes to the GNWT. I am asking these questions today because I will not be here tomorrow. [Translation ends]
My questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Mr. Speaker, how can this government reconcile benefitting financially from the substance abuse it is enabling through the $57 million in annual liquor and cannabis sales in this territory? Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The consolidated revenue fund is the entirety of the budget of the Northwest Territories. That is the money that is spent to do all of the things that the Government of the Northwest Territories does, including funding Health and Social Services, including funding addictions services, including funding housing. It's not misuse. That is really the money that we all, then, come together and decide what we want to do and where we want to allocate it through the budgeting process.
Mr. Speaker, to the extent that there are concerns about the budgeting process as we do the reviews for, in this case, particularly Health and Social Services that has primary responsibility for addictions, perhaps the Department of Justice with respect to the rehabilitation of those who may have run in contravention of the law, then that's the opportunity that we all have as Members to evaluate and review where we want to spend our money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Translation] If we take a look at the money that is coming in, it's in the millions every year. The money goes to the government. We need to take a closer look at contributing some money towards addictions. [Translation ends]
Mr. Speaker, my next question to the Minister is: why doesn't this government link its addictions treatment spending directly to the millions it rakes in from the retail sales of these intoxicants? Has the Minister considered allocating a certain percentage, possibly 1 or 2 percent, of the revenues earned on an annual basis towards addiction programming or after-care programming?
I certainly do appreciate the attempt to solve what is obviously a huge problem for the Northwest Territories. As far as earmarking, though, and taking a specific amount that is within the Department of Finance, under the Northwest Territories Liquor and Cannabis Commission and the sale of liquor, the challenge with earmarking what would otherwise be going into the consolidated revenue fund is that it actually reduces the ability to be flexible that we all have about how we spend all of the money to achieve all of the priorities and the mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
That said, Mr. Speaker, what is happening right now are two things. There is a review that is about to begin with respect to the liquor act. There is also, happening right now, work to develop an alcohol strategy within the Department of Health and Social Services, and the two departments are working together.
To the extent that the Department of Finance does alcohol prevention and misuse prevention activities, that does fall within our mandate. Mr. Speaker, I will look at the amount that we spend on that. I can commit to doing that, and I can commit to coming back and seeing if there are further activities that we can undertake there and, aside from that, continuing to do work with the Department of Health and Social Services.
I'm glad the Minister is recognizing the huge challenges that we are faced with addictions here in the Northwest Territories. It's a real issue. We need to be dedicating our resources, allocating funds towards that, meaning that we should be taking a certain percentage out of the revenue generated on an annual basis. We need to think outside of the box. We have always said this government is doing things differently. Well, show it. Show the territory that we can do that.
Mr. Speaker, what has the Minister learned from those more enlightened jurisdictions? Other jurisdictions are allocating a certain percentage, a dedicated statutory share of liquor and cannabis profits, to addictions treatment. Why couldn't we follow this practice that is already in place in other jurisdictions?
We are on track to deliver on a pressing review about the structure of the pricing of alcohol in the Northwest Territories. As I say, it's on track. It's coming back in March. As soon as I have the information put together, that will demonstrate what, in fact, is happening in other jurisdictions, what best practices there are available, and at that point, we can make a decision based on that information as to whether or not there are best practices that we aren't following and go forward from there.
Mr. Speaker, at this point, if we were to earmark a certain percentage, my concern, of course, is: are we giving the right amount to Health and Social Services to do their work in terms of alcohol prevention? Are we giving them enough, and are we giving it to them at the right time when they are ready to utilize it effectively? Should it be going somewhere else, like to Indigenous governments? Should it be going to the communities? Having it part of the budgeting process that we are here for right now is the best way for us to all have that conversation and have that debate about where and how much to spend.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] Right now, all of these issues are under the Minister of Finance, how the money and where the money is going. She is the person who makes these major decisions. This is the reason why I'm asking the Minister of Finance. Right now, under Canada, with alcohol, money that we are getting, all that funding we do get, I would like to see the percentage in each department, how far and how much can we get for each department regarding the addiction money that we will get from finance. [Translation ends]
If I have understood correctly, there is a request to ensure that we are properly reporting back on how much has come in in terms of any revenue, any actual profits, revenue from sales, and then to determine where that goes. If I understand correctly, that is very difficult. I mean, that goes into the consolidated revenue fund, and it is distributed to every department. As for which percentage goes for addictions treatment, again, we would involve the Department of Health and Social Services, which is certainly the lead on addictions services, with some supports to housing and some supports from Justice.
I will go away and look back at Hansard and see what I can come back with. If there is information I can collect, I certainly will, but to the extent that it is the money of the consolidated revenue fund, then it's the money that is spent by all the departments on addictions, which is in the main estimates which we are reviewing right now. Again, we will do our best to put some information together, Mr. Speaker. Really, that is what this purpose is to me with main estimates review, is to look at where we spend all of the money of the Government of the Northwest Territories and make sure it's meeting the needs of the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
