Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm having trouble getting hopeful about stopping this criminal activity, because I keep thinking about things like this. You think about the aboriginal people, and you think that the growing of tobacco and the smoking of tobacco is pretty traditionally tied to their culture, as is the trapping of animals and the making of furs for purchase.
The book says that you can buy 200 cigarettes for $6. In the regular market, that is about $80 worth. So I think to myself, suppose I look for a fur coat, and the fur coat is priced at $8,000, and I hear that out at the Indian reserve they have a shop where I can buy the same coat for $600. I find it hard to see how they're making much profit. But it's pretty tempting for people, particularly people who want to smoke and can't afford $80 for their carton and people who would like a fur coat but can't afford $8,000. The market suggests to me that people are going to go to the places where they can get the best bargains.
So how are you going to stop that? As long as there is a market for these goods, people are going to provide to that market. It seems to me that we're beating our heads against the wall here.
Of course everyone is concerned about the tie-in to other things, like illegal guns and drugs and that sort of thing. But maybe these products are the loss leaders in those shipments, because they are such a bargain. If in fact on an Indian reserve they can manufacture 200 cigarettes, sell them for $6, and still make a profit, you wonder, as I said jokingly to my partners here, which one is the bandit. Is it the one selling it for $80 or the one selling it for $6? If $6 represents a certain profit, what does $80 represent?
That's just a different way of looking at it.