Thank you, Madam Chair.
As Minister of Health, I am concerned about the health impacts of cigarettes, either legal or contraband, and about all smokers. As the member is well aware, we introduced the legislation related to direct marketing by the tobacco industry to our young people in Canada.
Within Health Canada, we are making investments in smoking cessation initiatives across the country that will help reduce the demand for tobacco products in Canada, both legal and contraband. Contraband cigarettes pose the additional problems of being easily accessible by our young people and being more attractive to smokers because of the lower price. As well, they may lack the health warning labels and information that we provide through legislation.
From the Health Canada standpoint, we have made significant investments to introduce stronger legislation around tobacco that would reduce the marketing to our young children by the industry. As the member is well aware, in Canada we deal with 37,000 deaths a year related to cancer as a direct result of tobacco. Through this legislation, we are putting in a lot of resources to target young people against starting smoking in the first place.
But contraband is a challenge. I agree with you there.