Yes. I think a greater public awareness will help bring an end to the problem.
I know that both the federal and provincial governments have promised in the past to bring forth public awareness campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of contraband tobacco. I mean, about 75% of people don't smoke, so this type of thing is not on their radar screen. And even a lot of the people who are doing it think it's a victimless crime, forgetting about the numerous victims that are involved, from retailers to our youth to organized criminals being out there and to the victims of the government--the taxpayers--for not getting the funds they need to do proper things in our society.
So there should be a public awareness campaign. Some people out there don't know that their kids are buying cigarettes from a criminal out of the trunk of a car. I teach at Humber College, and one of my students told me that in his last year of high school, two fellow students were selling contraband cigarettes out of their school locker. Where did they get them? They got them from their parents, who went to some of the smoke shacks and bought them. They were using it to supplement the family income.
So it really is an issue. I think if more people knew how many victims there were, that it's not a victimless crime, that it's something that deals with organized crime, that it is severely impacting our youth as the smoking rates go up again, there might be a lot more people who voluntarily stop buying contraband cigarettes. Also, hopefully a lot more people will speak to their MPs and MPPs and city councillors to demand that something be done.