Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to testify here today.
First, let me express our support for a measure not included in this bill, and that was the budget announcement of significant funding for the Canadian strategy for cancer control. The Canadian Cancer Society has been extremely supportive of this initiative.
With respect to the bill, today is World No Tobacco Day, organized by the World Health Organization, and it is appropriate for us to express our support once again for the increase in tobacco taxes included in the bill to adjust for the 1% GST reduction. Had it not been for that measure, there would have been a decrease in cigarette prices across Canada. Given that higher prices are the most effective measure to reduce smoking among children, this would not have been a good thing. I urge all members to support that.
At the same time, national health organizations have called for a further increase of $10 per carton of cigarettes and the elimination of the loophole that allows lower taxes for roll-your-own cigarettes as measures to increase government revenue and protect public health.
There are a series of contraband prevention measures that could be implemented that would be beneficial, including asking U.S. authorities to shut down illicit manufacturing in St. Regis, New York, next to the Canadian border; to increase the minimum bond to $2 million for tobacco manufacturers; to revoke federal tobacco manufacturers' licences if a manufacturer does not have a provincial manufacturer's licence required in Quebec and Ontario; to prohibit the supply of raw materials to those manufacturers that do not have a federal licence; and to improve tax-paid markings on cigarette packages, as has been successfully implemented in California.
In conclusion, let me thank the government for introducing the tobacco tax measure included in the bill. Thank you.