Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
My name is Don Cha. I am the general manager of the Ontario Korean Businessmen's Association, also known as OKBA.
On behalf of our entire 1,500-plus members, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on Bill C-10, and more specifically on how the problem of contraband tobacco impacts our members' businesses and livelihoods. It is a very important issue to our membership.
The OKBA was originally established in 1973 as a not-for-profit association for independent convenience store owners throughout the province of Ontario. Our typical member operates a store that is a family-run business. It employs three or four people, and the store is usually open seven days a week, 14 hours a day.
In many cases our store owners, most of whom are immigrants to Canada, choose to invest their life savings to operate their own businesses and provide a better future for themselves and their families. Undoubtedly, you all have independent convenience stores operating in your ridings, and for those of you representing ridings in Ontario, many of those stores are owned and operated by members of the Korean community.
Our members work hard. We play by the rules and we respect and appreciate the laws that Canada has in place to protect society from criminals and the crimes they commit.
Contraband tobacco has been an ongoing problem that has critically impacted the livelihood of many of our store owners over the last several years. Since 2006 we have seen approximately 700 of our members' stores close, probably due to the easy access to and cheap price of unregulated and illegal tobacco.
We know that contraband tobacco exists and it is available in just about every community across the province and increasingly across Canada. Where contraband is present and readily available, our members have experienced up to a 50% drop in gross sales for their stores.
In addition to lost tobacco sales, less food traffic results, and fewer purchases overall, as those lost customers are no longer entering our stores to pick up their bags of milk, loaves of bread, or chocolate bars for their families.
While the smoking level has been steadily and slowly declining over the years, our members have diversified the range of products and services they sell to stay afloat. However, when our members play by the rules, collect and remit all necessary taxes, and ensure that minors are not purchasing tobacco, we lose hope when we see contraband being sold openly in our communities, right in front of our stores, seemingly with impunity. Something must change.
We applaud the government's decision to introduce Bill C-10 and its proposed amendments to the Criminal Code as it relates to trafficking contraband tobacco. We believe that up until now there has not been enough public deterrence against the many criminal groups that participate in this illegal trade.
In addition, smokers need to realize that purchasing and consuming even small quantities of unregulated and unlicensed tobacco is illegal. Contraband tobacco is not a victimless crime. Contraband trafficking presents a serious threat to our businesses, results in a sizeable loss of tax revenue to government, and provides minors with easy access to unregulated and illegal tobacco products.
We realize that dealing with the problem of contraband tobacco is not easy, and that it requires cooperation between the various levels of government and law enforcement. However, we hope that with the passing of this legislation and, more importantly, the additional resources for law enforcement, the fight against contraband tobacco can be won.
The OKBA and its membership have become increasingly politically active on the issue of contraband tobacco. We look to support good government policy that, first and foremost, recognizes the threat contraband tobacco has on our society, and secondly, enhances the tools and resources that our law enforcement and our courts have to fight the problem and do what's right for Canada.
Thank you for your time and interest.