It’s just a matter of time before liquor stores and grocery outlets will be allowed to sell alcohol in Bermuda on Sundays.

Indications are it could happen as early as January 5 or by the second Sunday in the new year on January 12.

The Liquor Licence Amendment Act 2013 was passed in the Senate yesterday, and is now bound for the Governor’s assent. It could end up at Government House by tomorrow.

Once signed into law, the new legislation takes effect. But not without questions and concerns moving forward.

During a two-hour robust debate in the House of Assembly, dissenters questioned the need to increase the availability of alcohol on Sundays. Others questioned the mixed messages being sent by legislators themselves.

Opposition MP Glenn Blakeney wanted to know whether gas stations run by Premier Craig Cannonier plan to sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

Asked for a response, spokeswoman Charmaine Burgess said the Premier had “no comment” on Mr Blakeney’s concerns.

“As the Premier is not involved in the day-to-day running of the Esso stations, you should direct your question(s) to Mr Steven DeCosta who is the Manager,” she said.

Mr DeCosta manages FC Service Station, which runs Esso City Tiger Mart, the Esso Station on Collector’s Hill and Warwick Gas Station.

From Monday to Saturday all three stations sell beer, wine and six-packs of wine coolers and other alcoholic beverages kept in separate cooler.

“The Premier is a shareholder in FC Service Station. But as it stands now, I don’t have any plans to sell alcohol on Sundays,” said Mr DeCosta.

“To do so, we would have to make the request to Esso Bermuda and no request has been made. I personally don’t anticipate that changing in the New Year.”

Mr Blakeney, who represents the constituency of Devonshire North Central, focused his concerns on two main points — subliminal messaging and health.

While noting the new Government “has decided it is important for the public to know who in this chamber ingests drugs”, he warned there will be fallout as a result of mixed messages from Parliament.

“They want us all to be randomly drug tested. But yet, subliminally, they would be suggesting that just because there is a legal intoxicant available, it should be, or could be, based on any particular member of the community to purchase it on a Sunday.

“I don’t understand or see that anything is wrong with what exists now with the availability of alcohol, save and except if it was some sort of a quid pro quo,” said Mr Blakeney.

“There’s no real reasonable rationale that makes it so urgently important that we now avail the public to be able to purchase liquor on a Sunday, especially with the kind of social conditions we find ourselves having to deal with as a challenge across the community.”

He continued: “If you talk to Family Services, if you go into the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs and talk to Child and Family Service, or Financial Assistance applicants and find out some of the biggest challenges that we have in this community from a social context, a lot of it is rooted in the abuse of alcohol consumption. And one of the reasons why alcohol is one of the more popular stimulants is because it’s legal.”

Now that the act has been passed he said there’s “a serious contradiction”.

“We have in this country a major concern with the indoctrination, or the introduction to gang culture which from data and from sources in the street where it all happens, that there is a concerted effort to reach out and attract younger and younger members.”

He said that leaves the door wide open for new gang recruits “if there’s dysfunction in the home, a lack of love and support that a young person is looking for, and they are targeted by an older individual who has an untoward lifestyle, that is not deemed to be wholesome for young people”.

And then he said young people have access to alcohol in the home.

“We have these kinds of challenges ... with regard to a solution-based process that has brought any level of significant success that has curtailed the kind of social problems that are directly related to alcohol consumption,” said Mr Blakeney.

To be considered leaders must also mean not being “all over the place with all kinds of kinds of contradictory subliminal messages” in his view.

“Young people — they’re saying ‘if they’ve heard anything that makes them want to drink it’s those fools up on the hill who can’t even get it right for themselves or for us’.

And he said the recent passage flies in the face of “concerns that would be addressed by group’s such as CADA”.

He also called on the Premier, as “a proprietor and an entrepreneur of filling stations allowed to sell certain alcoholic beverages” to declare his interests.

“There seems to be a conflict there as well. To have an additional day to sell a product that might be harmful to human health and then promoting it from the Government perspective,” said Mr Blakeney.

“Where do we go from here and why and for who? What is the real motive?

“I don’t think a determining factor of people coming to visit this Island for business or otherwise for pleasure, is going to be contingent upon being able to access alcohol from a retailer in the supermarket business — it’s a complete misnomer.

“To reach for that kind of a rationale shows desperation and very shallow thinking, especially when you say that you have the country’s interest at heart.”

He wanted to know whether “health comes before profit” in the eyes of the new Government.

“We need to lead by example, especially where we have a responsibility in looking out for those that might not really be able to look out for themselves or those who come from environments that’s been awash in alcoholic beverages,” said Mr Blakeney.

He called for an explanation “beyond the measure of convenience that makes sense”.

“We can’t even get a wrap around the diseases that are acute, where insurance companies premiums are affordable to ensure that when you need the kind of intervention for your health you can get it.

“But yet we’re going to make available something that is incredibly responsible for a number of health issues afflicting humankind and it is a highly addictive substance.”

And the effects he said are not the same for every individual across the board. “Some can drink all day and probably not even stagger, others take a zip and feel woozy.

He concurred with “all the concerns” raised by Independent MP Terry Lister who had “valid concerns that were well articulated for every single person from the grassroots up”.

Mr Blakeney concluded: “What is the motive, who is it for and if it’s not a quid pro quo then what?”