Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the Minister of National Health and Welfare as I do every time she answers questions in the House about smoking.
Here again, the minister means well with these measures to prevent smoking, but as I said during my speech, the Official Opposition is somewhat apprehensive about the enforcement of these measures. You referred to the cost of so-called kiddie packs-packages containing fewer than 20 cigarettes-which will now be prohibited. I think we should remember that because taxes have been cut, in Quebec at least, the price has gone down considerably, so that today, a pack of fewer than 20 cigarettes is much cheaper. In fact, a pack of more than 20 cigarettes is now cheaper than a pack of 15 cigarettes used to be. In other words, cost is an important factor.
I would appreciate it if the minister could give us her thoughts about this and whether she thinks this aspect was properly evaluated, because there has been a drop in the cost of a pack of cigarettes. We know that people who smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day are considered to be heavy smokers, which is very dangerous to one's health.
The minister mentioned new inspectors. I wish she would specify, if she is in a position to do so today, the number of new inspectors to which she is committed and what this will cost. As for the fines, I do not think they are all that severe. It all depends on the offence and the extent of the offence. I would like to tell you a story about the legislation to prohibits smoking in government buildings.
At the CBC there was a massive operation to enforce the new legislation as soon as the rule came into effect. The amount that people were fined added up to a considerable amount of money, and when employees protested, it all ended without anyone paying fines.
My point is that when the government decides to enforce this legislation, I hope it will do so fairly and squarely across Canada and will have the requisite number of inspectors to do so. We also have to provide for cases where one will not be able to count on the co-operation of provincial or other police forces. We will need a lot of inspectors to cover the territory involved. I am not so sure they will be able to do that. There is also the risk of partial enforcement.
I mentioned what happened at the CBC, but it could happen in any other company or community, when all of a sudden individuals are fined and notice that meanwhile, people somewhere else can continue to smoke with impunity, and I am thinking of young people particularly. This may produce a sense of injustice, of being picked on while other people can go on breaking the law without being penalized.
I would appreciate the minister's views on the subject.