Private member's alcohol use education bill fails in P.E.I. Legislature

A P.E.I. private member's bill to fund alcohol use awareness from liquor sales has been rejected by the province's legislature on Wednesday.

The majority of MLAs voted against Liberal member Gord McNeilly's proposed legislation that would have diverted some liquor commission profits to health education.

The vote came a day after P.E.I. Finance Minister Jill Burridge said Liberal MLA's bill could not pass as it stands, and McNeilly replied he was not interested in amendments or sending it to a standing committee for further discussion.

The vote spells the end of the private member's bill, which would have seen three per cent of profits dedicated to programs supporting responsible liquor consumption.

Wednesday's vote saw all present Progressive Conservative MLAs vote against the bill, with Greens and Liberals voting in its favour.

During a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Burridge expressed concern that the bill would supersede the budget process, despite containing a clause stating funds for those programs would have to be budgeted by the legislature.

She also presented information from the Chief Public Health Office that said there was global evidence that public education is ineffective at reducing alcohol consumption, and that some studies had found increased consumption in the wake of education campaigns.

"I don't think that this particular bill is the best way to go about achieving the outcomes that we all want to achieve," Burridge said on Tuesday. "With the bill the way it reads right now, and there's a few problems with it, we would have to vote it down today, but I don't want to do that.

"I want to take it to a standing committee and have more discussion on this."

McNeilly said he is not interested in waiting for that.

"You send it to a standing committee, that's a year away, and we have the information," he said. "We have no alcohol strategy, minister. We have no wellness strategy.

"We have a health promotion unit that's doing their best but they're underfunded."

As for superseding the budget process, McNeilly said there are other examples of minimum-spending requirements in P.E.I. legislation, and he doesn't believe this is a problem.

Kristen Cameron, who was left paralyzed from the collarbone down after being hit by a drunk driver in 2010, was invited by McNeilly to the legislature to talk about the bill on Tuesday.