Thank you very much, Chairperson.
First of all, thank you to the witnesses for coming today. I know it was in a bit of a hurry. This is our first meeting, and in fact a number of us are very new on this committee.
We're getting to know all the issues, but in terms of what's before us today in the proposed three sets of regulations and hearing the testimony and reading the material, it's very clear that this is something that has been ongoing. The fact that these regulations were gazetted back in February is a clear indication that things were afoot and that these proposals were being outlined and put forward in a formal process, so frankly I'm a bit surprised to hear representation today that we need more time to study this or deal with this or respond to how we address the labelling and so on. It seems to me that it has been very obvious that this was on its way in. In fact, I think we have an opportunity here to keep to the deadline and timeline that were established, and I think that if we delayed this process today, it would be very unfortunate. That's certainly not anything we want to do.
I would like to ask Mr. Haslam to respond. There has been a clear indication all along that this was going to happen. That's one question.
Second, to Mr. Cunningham from the Canadian Cancer Society, I was particularly interested in what you said about youth addiction. I think it would be very interesting for you to spell out what it will mean in real terms if we don't go ahead with these measures that are aimed to prevent addiction and save lives, particularly among young people.
I don't know the statistics for smoking among young people, but I know that it has been rising. That's a particular concern all of us should have for the younger generation.
Could you outline a little more on what it means if we don't go ahead with these regulations? What are we actually saying to young people in terms of their health and their ability to be productive members of society in good health?