Mr. Speaker, it only took two weeks for the Ontario government to realize how detrimental cigarette smuggling can be, a situation that the Quebec government has lived with for nearly five years.
The Ontario government finally saw the light and announced yesterday that it would join the federal, New Brunswick and Quebec governments in their plan to fight cigarette smuggling.
In a moment of lucidity, Mr. Rae finally understood that the smuggling plague has become a national problem in Canada. By hesitating, the Rae government compromised the implementation of a national anti-smuggling plan.
It seems that Mr. Rae forgot about the virtues of co-operative federalism for several unfortunate hours.