I'd be happy to start, Madam Chair, and I thank the member very much for his question.
Indeed, these sentiments that he's expressed are ones that I share and have often reflected on in my own career working on tobacco control, which has spanned 28 years so far. May I say at the outset that a long time ago, Parliament was, in fact, very prescient about this issue. There was a bill that passed second reading in Parliament to ban cigarettes. That bill was voted on in 1904, but it somehow or other never became law, even though it had been adopted at second reading. So Parliament has tried, and there have been other efforts by Parliament since then, in the sixties and seventies and eighties, to control tobacco, but there are many forces at work that maintain tobacco use in our society.
I think the question also suggests that we ought to have a much stronger approach to dealing with tobacco. I agree wholeheartedly, and on another day at another time I would be delighted to engage members of the committee in a serious discussion about how we may well phase out tobacco over the next 20 years. I have a lot of ideas about that, and I would be happy to discuss further ideas.
In the meantime, however, there are some very good things that we can do, as has been suggested. Members of Parliament could adopt Bill C-32, hopefully with one or more of the amendments that have been suggested here today. That is certainly a step in the right direction. But like the member, I am anxious for real action, to have a whole-of-government approach to really address this problem once and for all.
Thank you.