I do not care if the members think it is cheap or not, this is an important issue. It affects the lives and safety of many Canadians, including my constituents.
I want to say one final thing in the moment or two that is left about respect for law. If it is cheap cigarettes that we wanted to keep off the market, cheap cigarettes were there. They were there and they were sold in schools. It was easier to get illegal cigarettes than legal ones with the contraband that we had. That was the reality.
Finally, what kind of message were we giving to young people in Canada when we were tolerating in society a situation in which the smuggler in the school drove the Corvette while the kids who were obeying the law were walking? That was the situation we had. That was the kind of crime we had and $2 billion a year was made by the underworld in this country. That is what this government was able to stop by its action. I am proud of what it did. Consumption of cigarettes has not increased. On August 18, 1994 the Minister of Health tabled a report. It said quite clearly that smoking had remained flat overall and had not increased. That is the truth. That is the reality. The action taken was the right and proper one.