Mr. Speaker, as the official opposition critic for training and youth, I welcome this opportunity to present the position of the Bloc Quebecois on Bill C-11, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act, the Customs Act and the Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act.
As youth critic, I intend to address those provisions of the bill that are aimed at reducing tobacco sales to young people, because smoking is a very serious problem among young people, and is probably one of the worst threats to the health of young people today.
In fact, according to a study carried out in 1992 by Health and Welfare Canada, 38,000 Canadians die each year of smoking-related diseases. From 80 to 90 per cent of all cases of emphysema and bronchitis are caused by cigarette smoking. I say this because we often think of lung cancer, but there are other diseases as well. Thirty per cent of young Canadians and Quebecers are smoking today, about the same proportion as for adults. It is a problem that is not going away.
In 1989, it was estimated that young Canadians between the ages of 12 and 19 spent more than $436 million on cigarettes, and that amount is even higher today. Ninety per cent smoked regularly, and by regularly I mean every day. Fifty-eight per cent of young smokers had from 11 to 25 cigarettes daily. Seventy-five per cent of teenagers who smoked developed the habit before the age of 17, and the average age at which they started to smoke-surprisingly, this figure is going down-was 13, in other words, they started smoking when they were 13 years old.
Other studies have shown that a gradual decrease was reversed in 1989, when smoking by young people started to increase. The age at which young people smoke their first cigarette has continued to go down. In fact, according to the National Clearing House on Tobacco and Health, between 1965 and 1989 smoking by young people in the 15-to-19 age group dropped from 55 per cent to 21 per cent among males and 37 per cent to 21 per cent among females. That was the good news. However, since 1989, 23.8 per cent of all students surveyed said they smoked daily, and the percentage was about the same for both girls and boys. Smoking increased considerably in 1991 and 1993 among students, especially students in their first year
of high school, rising from 6.1 per cent in 1989 to 9.4 per cent in 1993.
Furthermore, according to several studies conducted by the National Clearing House on Tobacco and Health, there is evidence that links poverty, unemployment, smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction.
Education is also an interesting factor to determine the population most likely to engage in such activities. Still according to the National Clearing House on Tobacco and Health, 34 per cent of individuals aged 15 and over smoke, as opposed to 18 per cent of people with a university education. Thirty-six per cent of the poorest members of our society smoke, as opposed to 25 per cent of the wealthiest members of that society.
The economic measures put in place by previous governments in Canada since 1984 have had a negative social impact by increasing poverty among Canadians. Young people have been particularly affected by these measures. In 1990, 40 per cent of young Quebecers were living in poverty. Today, youth unemployment in Quebec has reached nearly 20 per cent.
However, I doubt that the figures I just quoted shed enough light on the real causes of smoking by young people. I believe more research is necessary for a more thorough analysis of a phenomenon that is constantly changing. We have every reason to be concerned about the future health of our young people and the burden on our health system.
It should come as no surprise to hon. members that the Official Opposition supports adopting measures to restrict tobacco consumption in general and by young people in particular. It should be a foregone conclusion for any political party that is concerned about public health. However, we do have a number of questions about the bill before the House today and these concern its chances of succeeding if the legislation is not properly enforced or if no effective measures are taken to achieve the bill's objective.
There is, first of all, the matter of the government's timing in tabling Bill C-11. It should be noted that this bill was tabled in the House of Commons two days after the Prime Minister announced, on February 8, various measures including tax reductions to fight cigarette smuggling.
We would almost think that, all of a sudden and off the cuff as we see it, this government was trying to give the impression it could solve every problem related to tobacco use.
Why dit it wait until February 8 to put into force the Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act adopted by the House of Commons in third reading on February 12, 1993? That was a year ago, Mr. Speaker.
Another fundamental issue is the will or capacity of the federal government to enforce its legislation respecting tobacco use.
This concern flows from this government's apparent reluctance to fight propaganda and incapacity to react to this rising problem. Other pieces of legislation also come to mind.
In an article published in Le Soleil on February 13 last, we learned that, over a four-year period, the federal government had not imposed a single fine under its Non Smokers' Health Act, an act to regulate smoking in its own buildings, and this in spite of innumerable complaints and no less than 102 violations reported during the first three years of operation of this act. Not one of the violation notices resulted in fines. The only action actually taken seems to have been to hand out warnings.
As members of the Official Opposition, we are fully prepared to contribute to the legislative process, but the government still has to enforce not only the legislation Parliament passes from now on, but also legislation passed previously.
It would be interesting to know what steps the government intends to take to ensure compliance with certain provisions of Bill C-11, including those relating to the requirement to stamp all tobacco products individually and the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes in packages containing fewer than 20 cigarettes. All this is fine. It is one thing to say you want to do something, but how will you go about it? That is a very important point, as far as I am concerned. How will the sale of individual cigarettes be controlled? Cigarettes are very small and easy to hide. How will the age of the buyer be ascertained? Will ID cards be required? How does the government intend to check the age of cigarette buyers? As we know, since old Bill C-111 became law, the legal age is 18. But you still have to check the ID card, the age of the buyer. Of course we are wondering about the number of people who will be assigned to enforce the law-the minister touched upon the subject-as well as the costs involved.
It is very important to get an answer to these questions because it relates to a central aspect of this legislation, namely its enforcement. Incidentally, the minister did mention enforcement at the beginning of his speech.
Also, we think that this legislation should be coupled with positive measures to warn young people of the dangers of tobacco use and encourage them not to smoke. We must beware of the possible boomerang effect of a repressive approach on the young in that area as in any other in fact. Several educational
experts have said repeatedly that young people trying to grow up and assert themselves could be attracted by the "forbidden", in which they see a challenge.
I have recently consulted a number of young people and I am convinced that, as far as stringent measures to restrict the use of cigarettes among young people are concerned, they could be construed as a form of provocation, thus inciting young people to go against this restriction.
We must help our young people to become more responsible, not marginalize them even more by taking only traditional, repressive approaches to problems.
This bill, which would restrict access by young persons to tobacco products, should not be a reason for us to forget that young people experience drug and alcohol problems on a daily basis. According to Statistics Canada, 12 per cent of our young people have serious drug addiction problems.
The range of illegal substances available in high schools boggles the mind. On February 19 last, La Presse reported in an article that high school students can purchase chemical substances such as PCP for a mere five dollars per unit right on the school premises. Pushers offer to sell drugs to children often as young as 12 or 13 years of age, and the impact on their health and on society is devastating.
As is the case with smoking, young persons who start to use drugs early in their teens are much more likely to still use drugs as adults. However, drugs are not the only products that are easily accessible to young people. Alcohol is also readily available to them.
In another article which appeared in La Presse on February 20 last, it was reported that teenagers can easily buy beer at the corner store. The article is based on the findings reported in a study involving high schools students aged 16 and 17 in Montreal, and 18-year-old students in Toronto. Students in this age bracket visited about one hundred convenience stores and in 85 per cent of the cases, merchants sold them alcoholic beverages without asking for any identification. Mr. Speaker, this is terrible!
Clearly, not everyone is complying with the legislation governing the sale of alcohol to minors. Must we wait until the same thing happens with the Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act?
We have said it before and we will say it again. We are not opposed to the passage of Bill C-11. What we are concerned about is how the legislation will be enforced.
Moreover, we must not be seen as sending a negative message to our youth. Considering that in the speech from the throne, the government announced plans to amend the Young Offenders Act, young people could possibly see in this legislation a message that society views them as the cause of the problem. In my opinion, young people represent the future, indeed, our future. It is up to us to ensure that the proposed measures are viewed in a positive light.
I have another question, this time pertaining to section 66 of the act respecting enforcement measures. As the minister mentioned earlier, this provision stipulates that police forces other than the RCMP can, if the minister deems it appropriate, seize tobacco, alcohol and vehicles used for illegal contraband activities. Does this mean that the police resources assigned to fight contraband activities will be increased significantly? If it does, how much will this increased presence cost?
I would also be somewhat surprised if the government were able to obtain as easily as the minister claimed the co-operation of police forces that do not fall under its jurisdiction. Most provincial and municipal police forces have experienced staff cuts and most claim to be stretched to the limit. Refusal to co-operate is not always a sign of bad will. When police forces have trouble just getting their everyday work done, it is difficult for them to volunteer to do extra work for another level of government.
It was also mentioned that seized property such as vehicles could be auctioned off. Will the proceeds from such sales be used to fight contraband activities and smoking?
Section 112 of the old Tobacco Sales to Young Persons Act, which relates to the immediate destruction of some of the articles seized, will allow the police to immediately destroy some of the articles seized, photos and videos liable to be used as evidence at trials. This could, of course, reduce storage costs significantly, but how do we make sure that these photos and videos are secure? That is a question that we should be asking ourselves.
Sections 201 and 211 of the act concerning the stamping of individual cigarettes will amend the Excise Act to allow authorities and law-abiding citizens to better identify products that have been taxed and those that have not been taxed, but we are told that these new stamping requirements for cigarettes will be prescribed by regulations after Bill C-11 has been passed. We hope that these regulations will be adopted and implemented quickly, in any case faster than those related to last year's Bill C-111.
Clause 7.1 of Bill C-11 will make it illegal to produce and sell packages containing less than 20 cigarettes. In our opinion, the effectiveness of this measure is reduced by the decline in cigarette prices. A pack of 25 now costs much less than a pack of 15 before taxes and prices were slashed.
Clause 7.3 of Bill C-11 is aimed at prohibiting the importation of tobacco products for and by people under 18. This measure is self-evident is we prohibit people under 18 from buying these products within Canada's geographical bound-
aries, but how can we ensure effective customs controls so that this measure does not amount to wishful thinking?
In conclusion, I would like to remind the House that the Official Opposition supports Bill-11, but we want to emphasize once again that it is important to take measures to enforce it. First by adopting easy-to-implement regulations and then by putting in place a better awareness program aimed at convincing young people that tobacco is detrimental to their health and that it can impose important costs on tomorrow's society.