Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to note that most of the comments and arguments in support of this bill are, as everyone will concede, quite logical. Sadly, these arguments should have been made one, maybe even two, years ago when the Government of Quebec requested Ottawa's help in halting the spread of contraband activities and in eradicating this problem.
We were experiencing similar problems with our young people. They were dropping out of schools and joining smuggling rings. However, the problem was not viewed as too serious because it was occurring primarily in Quebec. Now that Quebec, through the presence of 54 Bloc Quebecois members in Ottawa, has forced the government's hand, forced it to take action and support Quebec's position, others are starting to get worried. It is as if suddenly, it is morally right to abolish a law which had become punitive.
People no longer obeyed the law, not because they had become thieves, but because they were no longer able to obey it, Mr. Speaker. That is what we are trying to denounce today.
Steps should have been taken two years ago so that these situations could have been avoided altogether. In some cases, it is perhaps too late. Our young people have been drawn into these smuggling networks. Perhaps the future of these 15 or 16 year olds who make $1,000 a week through their involvement with smuggling has been ruined forever.
The government should have admitted at the time that the problem existed, not just or primarily in Quebec, and that it represented a real danger for the rest of Canada. It should have intervened.
If the government takes action that is too harsh, such as imposing ill-considered fines, it runs the risk that these fines will be paid under the table. If people start bribing officials, our jails will never be big enough and we will have another problem on our hands. That is what always happens. I hope that the government has learned its lesson and that in its budget speech this evening, it will not announce further ill-considered taxes which will push citizens to the breaking point.