Thank you very much for coming here today.
I'm going to have a few more pointed questions for you.
One of the things I was reviewing was the health concerns related to alcohol consumption. I was reviewing two scientific articles. One is called “The Effectiveness of Tax Policy Interventions for Reducing Excessive Alcohol Consumption and Related Harm”. It's by Elder, Lawrence, and Fielding. It's in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine of February 2010. They state:
Nearly all studies, including those with different study designs, found that there was an inverse relationship between the tax or price of alcohol and indices of excessive drinking or alcohol-related health outcomes. Among studies restricted to underage populations, most found that increased taxes were also significantly associated with reduced consumption and alcohol-related harms.
Another study here in Canada looked at alcohol pricing and public health in Canada. It was by Stockwell—not Stockwell Day—from the University of Victoria. They recommended using the consumer price index—that was back in 2006—because they said there were grave health concerns related to alcohol consumption in Canada. There hadn't been a significant or any increase in the effective taxation of alcohol, meaning it had effectively become cheaper and cheaper for people to obtain alcohol.
What are your comments on the health concerns related to the consumption of alcohol?