Mr. Speaker, I could not agree with the hon. member more that if two years ago the government had taken action we would not find ourselves in the situation we are today.
Unfortunately the government two years ago did not take action. There are members on this side of the House who have pressed this issue for the past five and six years. Unfortunately the past government did not take action. However that is what we are doing with our anti-smuggling and action plan. We are taking action.
I would also like to inform the hon. member, in case he is not aware, that this government was aware of the problem as an opposition party. We took hold of the problem when we became the government. We began addressing the problem immediately after the October 25 election.
If the hon. member would refer to newspaper articles he would see that before the House was recalled in January we had already begun discussions. We are dealing with the problem.