Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill S-16, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in contraband tobacco). As has been stated very clearly, the NDP is in support of sending this bill to committee and having a closer look at it, a bill that aims to address a very serious issue. Contraband tobacco is an extremely serious problem, both in public health and safety and of the lost revenue for the various levels of government.
However, the bill raises certain issues that need to be clarified in relation to the government's chosen approach. Another issue that is very important to address is the need for consultation with the provinces, territories and first nations communities. We are also concerned about the issue of minimum mandatory sentences that are provided in the legislation. Therefore, we believe this requires further study in committee.
In its 2008 report, the RCMP stated that its:
—key concern is the increased involvement of organized crime implicated in illegal tobacco activities for monetary gain. The public needs to be aware that profits from illegal tobacco products are also funding other criminal activities, such as drug and gun trafficking.
In terms of public health, contraband tobacco and the use of tobacco products are interconnected. We know tobacco seriously harms the health of Canadians. Because contraband cigarettes are available at a lower cost than cigarettes sold in stores, they can encourage consumption, especially for young people who might find it more difficult to obtain legal tobacco products. Furthermore, because the quality of illegal tobacco products goes unchecked, these products may have an even more harmful impact on the health of consumers.
In understanding the bill, and it is very clear to us that it requires more study, the NDP believes that various key aspects of this need to be examined further. A key aspect that must be examined is the need for the government to invest resources in policing and in the Canada Border Services Agency to properly address this issue. Unfortunately, all we have seen from the government are reckless border cuts and a refusal to renew the funding that allows for more police officers on our streets.
I recognize that cuts to policing and investigative resources began under the Liberal government, when the port of Vancouver, for example, and other entry ports lost policing and investigative capacities as a result of the Liberals' budget cuts. Unfortunately, the Conservative government has very much continued this trend. We know of cuts, certainly in the last year, to the Canada Border Services Agency. This affects the capacity Canadians have in ensuring that what is coming through the border is not contraband tobacco and the serious stopgap to the kind of illegal trafficking in general that we know takes place across our borders.
It is absolutely critical for the Conservative government to go back on the kinds of cuts we have seen and seek to invest in policing capacity, both in terms of the CBSA and more broadly in terms of police services.
I want to speak briefly to what it means to have a lack of policing services in communities that wrestle with contraband and broader security issues.
As the MP for Churchill, I represent one of the largest ridings in Canada in terms of geography and size. What that means is we have massive expanses of territory and an RCMP and police force that are stretched to provide critical policing services.
I have had the pleasure of meeting women and men who are part of the RCMP working in communities across the north. I have great admiration for the work they do, but I recognize they often do it for longer periods of time, putting in overtime and sometimes exposing themselves to risk because they do not have the kind of staffing complement they need.
I also know in the investigative capacity they are often overstretched. I will use the example of a recent murder in one of the northern first nations I represent. It is an isolated community and the ability to get in and conduct a proper investigation was hampered by the fact that the RCMP could not send the right people in at that time. There was a waiting list for the specialists who needed to come in, owing to the fact that the RCMP was short-staffed, especially when it came to the north.
I also want to note that first nations communities often struggle with social challenges and some very difficult situations. They want to better police their communities. Band constables are often the go-to people in this case.
Unfortunately, the Government of Canada has pulled away from the kind of commitment first nations want to see when it comes to band and aboriginal policing. Certainly in our province of Manitoba, I know first-hand that RCMP officers often depend on band constables to go out and do that initial investigative work and build those relationships that need to be had to get to the bottom of what has happened and to begin the process of seeking justice.
Unfortunately, I have been in many communities where band constables have had to be laid off because the funding has dried up. I know most recently that the Island Lake communities, the Island Lake First Nation, and particularly in Garden Hill, were very concerned about their loss of band constable funding coming into this fiscal year.
I heard from leaders and community members who wanted to ensure that the violations of public unrest, incidents of vandalism or abuse were dealt with properly. The issues they raised were the fact that in Garden Hill, for example, the RCMP had to fly over the lake in a helicopter when the lake was not frozen to undertake its policing duties.
Without band constables, that takes a long time. RCMP officers are not always able to make it over the lake in a helicopter. Therefore, instead of depending on band constables who are on-site in the community, the community is being put further at risk as a result of the government's failure to come to the table and find a solution to policing issues that work for communities like Garden Hill.
First nations and northern communities want to make a difference, whether it is on issues of contraband or criminal behaviour. However, the reality is that policing needs support from the federal government. Communities deserve to have support from the federal government in bolstering the police presence in their communities, whether it be the RCMP or band policing.
It is of grave concern that despite the government's rhetoric of being tough on crime, when we actually look at the figures and the reality in northern regions like the one I come from and I represent, this has not translated into a difference of supporting first nations, hiring band constables, ensuring that the RCMP has the support and the investigative capacity required in northern regions when something as serious as a murder takes place. They need to speedily react and start a longer term investigative process.
I also want to speak to the need to support our border service agents. That, to me is an important point that unfortunately is missed in Bill S-16, and we hope to raise it at committee. Anybody who has gone through the border, and I had the opportunity to travel to the states through the Manitoba border crossing at Emerson, would have seen CBSA agents doing very important work, ensuring that our provinces and all Canadians are being looked after as people travel back and forth through the border.
It is unfortunate that the government has not recognized the need to keep CBSA agents safe, to make sure they have the staff complement and backup they need in order to truly react to issues of contraband and other aspects of illegal trafficking.
With that, I am open to questions and comments.
