Evidence of meeting #29 for Public Safety and National Security in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was products.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Are your prepared to cover the costs of implementing this system? Imperial Tobacco claims that it is not worth the effort. Do you share that view?
5:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Grand River Enterprises
If it's part of a strategy that moves towards all of it, yes, it certainly is, because we'd be collecting the tax up front then.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
It is illegal to be in possession of an illegal product. I've just checked in the act and it's as I suspected.
5:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Law Division and General Counsel, Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited
I didn't quite understand your question.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
It wasn't a question. Earlier, you asked me if merely being in possession of cigarettes...
5:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Law Division and General Counsel, Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited
Possession for the purposes of distribution would be illegal, but if a person purchases the cigarettes for his own consumption, then I don't think that is illegal.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Penny Priddy NDP Surrey North, BC
Yes, thank you.
I realize you may only be able to comment on this by observation and not by statistics you have, but when we talk about youth and youth being drawn to contraband tobacco, I know that across the country smoking rates among youth are dropping in many provinces. It's more for young men than young women, and that has a whole lot of other packaging pieces attached. But we have heard that with regard to the routes that are used, the people who bring up contraband tobacco from the United States may also use those routes for other kinds of illegal activities, whether it's drugs or guns or whatever it is.
Again, I realize it's anecdotal, but I wonder whether you're seeing aboriginal or first nations youth not only seeing contraband tobacco but being pulled at different levels into the actual mechanics of contraband tobacco--not just having the access to it, but actually becoming involved in the train, if you will, of the mechanism of it.
5:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Grand River Enterprises
One thing that concerns me very much, as a first nations person, is that the fastest-growing rate of underage smokers—in all of North America, not just in Canada—is on first nations territories. That's something that even our leaders should discourage at the end of the day; that's a given.
I don't want to always think that all of the problems within the contraband industry are a characteristic of reservations that straddle the U.S. and Canadian border. That's just one small aspect of the problem we have at hand. But I don't believe there's a responsible first nations person living on Turtle Island—there could not be—who would not want to address the situation of underage smoking, especially among our own people, but as well among other, non-native people. It's just something that needs to be addressed.
I'm not going to ignore that it's—
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Penny Priddy NDP Surrey North, BC
Whether it's first nations youth or non-first nations youth, do we see youth being caught up in the more sophisticated criminal cycle of contraband tobacco, rather than simply in the increase in smoking?
5:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Grand River Enterprises
Young teenage first nations people need jobs, like anybody else, so they'll go where the jobs are.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz
Are there any other questions? Does anybody have another question?
I'd like to thank our witnesses, then, for coming before this committee. It's been a very interesting time. You've given us a lot of good information, and I'm sure it'll be very important as we put together a report.
This meeting stands adjourned.