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WINNIPEG - Some sobering statistics uncovered by a youth survey are sparking the province to hike underage drinking fines.
The drinking habits of 34,000 Manitoba teens exposed by a youth health survey performed by Partners in Planning for Healthy Living are going to have a direct impact on policy.
Gord Mackintosh, the minister responsible for the administration of the Liquor Control Act, said the province will act immediately to make underage drinking fines among the stiffest in the country.
The survey, one of the first of its scope in the country, queried teens on everything from activity levels and vegetable intake to their use of illegal drugs, booze and tobacco.
"When we see numbers where almost 20% of grade niners got drunk in the previous month, that is a very sobering statistic for all Manitobans," Mackintosh said Wednesday at the headquarters of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba.
Results showed 19% of Grade 9 students queried engaged in binge drinking in the month prior to the survey. The percentage rises to 51% among Grade 12 students asked the same question.
Mackintosh said fines will rise from about $290 up to among the highest in the country, Mackintosh said.
He said the fines will be just one part of a comprehensive strategy to combat youth drinking and hopes to convene a summit on the issue in the near future.
"But we see fines as a very timely and swift way to send a stronger message and to put in place a better deterrent," Mackintosh said.
Partners in Planning for Healthy Living -- a group including regional health authorities, independent health groups, the Manitoba government and other public health organizations -- co-ordinated the survey, which was administered by school divisions around the province.
Healthy Living Minister Jim Rondeau said the survey's findings about youth tobacco use will result in stronger enforcement of rules banning the sale of tobacco products to minors.
"We knew there were (youth) smoking, we just didn't know the numbers," Rondeau said. "There's an increased fine and people are going to be out in the community looking to see that people comply with the law."
jason.halstead@sunmedia.ca