One comment I can make is that Rob and I, and many others in the health community, have been meeting with many people from many different ministries. We were being told, “It's not us, it's the other ministry”, or “It's the other department”. We've been thrown so many times, going all around, trying to find people who would take the lead on this issue.
One thing we've said to all of you is that it's not just one minister who is responsible here. It's the Ministry of Justice, it's Health, it's Public Security, and Agriculture. All of these ministries have to get involved.
Just recently we've learned that the RCMP's strategic plan is going to help to set up such a committee to look into this issue through different eyes. This is very important. It's a major achievement, and I think you need to be commended.
As for working together, our motivation in the health community is to protect public health and to reduce the health consequences of tobacco use. You were talking about the cash-strapped individual who is addicted to nicotine. About 80% of smokers don't want to be smokers. In surveys, 80% of them say they want to quit. It's because of the addiction that they keep smoking. In much of the testimony we're getting, especially when they're on their death bed, they will say, “Please do something to make sure that my kids do not smoke, because of what I'm going through”.
The interest of the tobacco industry is to maximize their profits. It's to increase their sales. So we don't have any common interests here. The common interest is getting rid of the smuggling, but we'll keep on working to make sure that tobacco consumption keeps going down, because of the public health impact. It's very important that everybody understands this. We sincerely appreciate that, even though your mandate is public security, you are considering the public health aspect of this issue.