Mr. Speaker, I start by congratulating the Solicitor General and the Minister of Health for addressing what was obviously a life and death issue in the constituency I have the honour and privilege to represent in the House. I do not believe I am exaggerating the point when I describe it that way. Over recent years literally dozens of constituents of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell have been murdered or have disappeared as a result of tobacco smuggling and associated crime.
When we talk about the ill effects of tobacco on young people I wonder how many of us have stopped to think of how many times a teenager working in a cornerstore has had his brains blown out so that someone else could steal the cigarettes from the shelves of that store to resell on the contraband market. That is not just in my riding. Unfortunately it has happened several times in this country.
I want to describe the extent of this problem. It was highlighted by another member earlier today. The commissioner of the RCMP said in a letter tabled before the House: "This implies a need to reduce the tax on cigarettes significantly enough to approach parity, thereby eliminating the profit motive for smugglers". In saying that he was telling us the time had arrived whereby we no longer had the choice and this is what we had to do.
It was not always that way. I remember when smuggling was about one-tenth the amount it is now or that it was when these measures were introduced. I remember on November 22, 1991 rising in the House and addressing a question to the previous government.
This is what the then Solicitor General, Hon. Doug Lewis, replied on the subject of smuggling: "Obviously it still exists a certain extent. We are doing everything we can to eliminate it".
That is what was said at that time. In other words. do not bother us. It is not very important. It is no big deal.
The last day Parliament sat before the election again I asked a question. I had asked questions many times. I asked the following and members might think the question was a little dramatic or at least members thought so at the time. In retrospect it certainly was not.
On that occasion, I said the following:
"Almost every night machine gun fire is heard and speedboats are running the rivers at full speed in the dark with their lights turned off pursuing criminal activity. I am not describing life in Sarajevo or Mogadishu. I am describing the practice of tobacco smuggling on the St. Lawrence River near Glengarry in my riding."
I made that statement in the House on June 13, 1993. And I went on to say:
"I want to ask a question of the Solicitor General on the last day of this Parliament. What precisely does the government intend to do to stop this illegal activity which endangers the lives and safety on my constituents? What is he going to do to ensure that we stop losing billions of taxpayers' dollars in this terrible process that is going on right now 50 miles from Parliament Hill?"
Nothing was done. Yes, there was a time when we could have done other things, federal and provincial governments, and in Ontario Mr. Rae could have done something.
For two years the Ontario Provincial Police detachment at Lancaster, a stone's throw from Lake St. Francis, was closed at night. Only after I raised it publicly was the police station reopened last November. Imagine that. The police station in the area where all the criminal activity is taking place shuts down at night, courtesy of Bob Rae's cutbacks. That is what happened. He self-righteously said before the media last week and the week before he did not know this was a problem in Ontario and
that it was a regional problem in Quebec, as he or Mr. Laughren put it. Those statements were a little less than totally honest. He knew of the problem.
My colleagues from western Canada will know of the report on tobacco smuggling by the Mackenzie Institute. All of them have received copies of the report. It explains to what extent this criminal activity has gone on. If members have not received it I will gladly provide them with copies.
Everything we hear today and have heard for the last weeks in this House the Mackenzie Institute has been telling us for months. However members were not listening. This government has listened. For three years I and others tried to get the previous government to act for the safety and security of Canadians and for the respect of the law and nothing was done. Within three months the new government did something and I am proud of it.
Some people claim tobacco smuggling is a victimless crime. I want to read what Claude McIntosh, the associate editor of the Standard Freeholder of Cornwall, wrote on July 3, 1993. He was citing examples of victims of smuggling. He wrote the following:
A Cornwall welfare recipient switched to a supplier selling cartons $1 cheaper than his previous supplier. His old supplier, fearful of losing other "accounts", paid him a visit. During the conversation he had his arm broken in an "accident". He went back to the previous supplier. Welfare recipients are soft because they are: 1) more willing to take the chance, and 2) available night and day.
Listen to this one about young people. A teacher ordered a disruptive student out of the classroom. On his way out the student reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of bills and sneered: "I don't need your education". The student works as a runner in one of the cigarette smuggling cartels with the potential to earn more in six months than the teacher does in a year.
That is the reality of smuggling. For those who wish to put their heads in the sand and think that is not a reality, well they are wrong.
What kind of message does it give to our young people when the one who is smuggling cigarettes and selling them in schools drives around in a corvette while the rest of the students walk home at night? We are concerned about young people.
The social contract has crumbled. When 60 to 70 per cent of cigarettes are sold illegally, as it is the case in Quebec-35 per cent in Ontario, very close to 100 per cent in my riding and as much as 25 to 30 per cent in Western Canada-I tell you that the social contract has crumbled in that respect and that we have returned to the so-called hobbesean state of nature: Every man for himself.
Life is brutish and short, as Thomas Hobbes put it. That is not the kind of society we want. We have to restore that social contract. The way of doing that was to take every action necessary, all governments together in concert. The federal government and the Government of Quebec did it. The Government of Ontario was dragged in kicking and screaming in order to do that which it should have done in the beginning. Nevertheless it has done so now.
There is another article from the Standard Freeholder . It was written by Claudia Peel on February 16, 1994 and is entitled: ``Smuggling is down to a trickle'':
The volume of black market cigarettes moving through this region has dropped significantly since the federal government's crackdown on smuggling began one week ago today.
OPP Det. Insp. Chris Lewis said police have seized some smuggled smokes since the federal anti-smoking plan went into effect last Wednesday. But the volume of contraband seized in the past week has been "quite a bit less" than police have been accustomed to seizing in a seven-day period.
As you can see, Mr. Speaker, action was required. I do not even have time to get into the whole issue of contraband, which thrives on illegality and leads to smuggling not only cigarettes but also drugs, alcohol and the likes.
Whether we come from western Canada, Ontario or elsewhere, whether we are separatists, sovereigntists or federalists, I think that we all have the same interests. In our society, we want laws to be obeyed. What was done had to be done. And to conclude, I congratulate the government, because that action was necessary and was taken. I hope that we will soon be able to say that we have managed to eliminate this evil that is preying upon our society.