Mr. Nicaso, I would like to ask you a question. I might get back to some of the things we heard this afternoon around the table. We are studying organized crime. We would like to counter it, maybe eradicate it, but we must find a solution and this is why we are coming to hear from different people in different cities and why we had many witnesses from all over Canada, in Vancouver, in Halifax, etc.
As for me, being a member of the Conservative Party, I will show my colors: we must find a solution and this situation cannot be allowed to persist. Let me explain to you why.
Mr. Nicaso mainly launched a discussion based on some information that we have. In 1924, in Quebec, we established what we called the Régie des alcools in order to control the distribution of alcohol, because a small local mafia was producing and bootlegging moonshine and even claimed that it was good for health. Today, this brings in a billion dollars for the government of Quebec and we have many fatalities on the roads. Some 650 people die because of alcohol and an average 12,000 arrests are made for drunk driving without an accident. This is the first thing. This is what we have always been told in recent years.
In terms of gambling, this is very recent. Quebec took control of gaming. It opened casinos, it sells scratch cards and other gaming tickets. They wanted to get the mafia out of this industry. Now the money is pocketted by the government of Quebec. Before, gamblers who did not pay up were getting killed, today they commit suicide. It is not any better, we have just as many dead except that the killer is not the same.
Then we changed prostitution laws: now only the johns are found guilty. These are our standards. We changed the law and there has been a decision by the Supreme Court. We thought we had solved the problem, but there are still as many prostitutes as before, in Toronto, Montreal or elsewhere. And no one will make be believe that we do not know that there is prostitution. There is lots of it going on every day, at every minute of every hour. Nothing is being done about it since it is impossible to control.
We talk about trafficking in humans. One of you talked about trafficking in humans. We know now that marijuana is no longer important because they now use women. A woman brings in money every day. You do not have to keep buying new merchandise. She works all the time.
I invite you to watch a full report on human trafficking in Montreal that will be broadcast tonight on Radio-Canada. It will help you to better understand what is happening regarding the trafficking of persons.
Also, Mr. Nicaso, I am really worried. You describe the system. Since you have studied this, what are the possible solutions, in your view? What can government do?
We have tried monopolies, we have tried taxes. We have increased taxes on cigarettes, a legal product. But, by increasing taxes, government has increased smuggling.
What should we do? This is why we are having these hearings.