Mr. Speaker, I noticed that some hon. members were applauding, but not the hon. member for Argenteuil-Papineau, who, I think, shares some of my feelings regarding the effects of smuggling. He can see these effects from up close in his constituency. Besides, the hon. member who just asked me a question also faces a similar situation.
He talks about the distribution network. It would be very naive to think that this distribution network did not exist in all parts of society before! In my own riding or, without even going that far, how many parliamentarians know that illegal cigarettes were sold right here on Parliament Hill?
In my riding, the day before the Prime Minister made his announcement, I received a phone call from a constituent complaining that the village's local smuggler had just made a delivery to the parish priest's house. It is a sad, very sad statement.
We saw the same thing in another region with the MATRAC group, when similar statements were made by other people in society sharing similar positions. These people did not see themselves as criminals, yet they unknowingly were part of an organized crime network.