00:00Now, we have come with radical legislation.
00:04I heard the threat uttered, not subsistence to you,
00:09it was uttered across the floor today, to challenge the legislation.
00:14Go ahead and challenge it. Go ahead and challenge it.
00:20The bolded declaration by Attorney General and Senior Counsel John Jeremy
00:24took the opposition in the House of Representatives
00:26as he wound up a marathon debate of the bill for an increase in the legal age limits for gambling
00:33as well as for the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis.
00:36The declaration was in an apparent response to statements made earlier in the debate
00:41by opposition MP Keith Scotland, who referred to the Constitution.
00:46And if it is the consumption of cannabis is part of your observance based on your belief,
00:52then the protection is not confined to believing privately.
00:59The word observance concerns what people do in practicing their faith.
01:07Our 40 or I, this makes every religious practice exempt from laws protecting health and safety.
01:19The opposition MP then referred to a past ruling of the Privy Council,
01:23which is based in London, and is Trinidad and Tobago's highest court of appeal.
01:29Because I went back to see the Privy Council decision in Suraj and Mirage versus the Attorney General,
01:35and paragraph 26 makes it clear that Section 4 rights are assessed through proportionality.
01:44A restriction may be justified.
01:46The state must be able to explain the importance of its objectives,
01:51the connection between the measure and that objective,
01:54and whether a less intrusive measure could achieve it, and the balance be struck.
01:59The Attorney General expressed the government's confidence in the bill to increase the legal age limit
02:04for drinking alcohol, consuming tobacco and cannabis, and also for gambling.
02:09I did not spend any deal of time, any great deal of time, discussing Suraj and Suraj.
02:17Because at the end of the day, what those cases decide is that it is the job of the Parliament
02:25to strike the balance between competing rights and interests.
02:31The Privy Council, of course, as our final court, is going to say
02:36whether or not we have struck that balance correctly or incorrectly.
02:42However, the Attorney General said the bill will not go before a joint select committee.
02:47Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
