Mr. Speaker, there are those who use the tax on tobacco as an excuse to break the law, and there are those who invoke civil disobedience as an excuse to break the law.
When Henry Thoreau staged civil disobedience, it was to protest the American civil war.
When Mahatma Gandhi staged civil disobedience, it was to free the people of India from colonialism.
When Martin Luther King staged civil disobedience, it was to free the American blacks from racial discrimination.
However when smugglers deliberately violate the law for money and others invoke civil disobedience to protest our tax laws on cigarettes, it is pure greed.
We cannot surrender the supremacy of law to the lawless. We must apply the law of our land to every part and parcel of our country.
Decreasing taxes on tobacco will increase the consumption of cigarettes, causing disabilities, human suffering, a lifetime of addiction and premature death.
The present and future health of the newborn, children, teenagers and adults-all of us-are in the hands of a healthy government public health policy.
Let Parliament rally our citizens and remind them that those who break the law hurt their neighbours, their friends, their families and our nation.