Mr. Speaker, I will just take a couple of minutes to talk about that. I cannot let a bill like this get passed in this House without first telling the House about the effects it has on my riding. When I talked about this bill before I explained to the House how important legislation like this is to my riding of Haldimand-Norfolk.
I represent somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 tobacco producers and I have represented them on this issue over the past few years. Over a number of years I and indeed a number of members in this House have been calling for the government to reduce taxes on tobacco. We felt, as do most of my constituents, that tobacco taxes and the way they have been applied in this country have been to the detriment of many of my constituents certainly the tobacco farmers and the area communities which support them.
I also represent the people of the Six Nations which is the largest Indian reserve in the country. It was dramatically impacted on by this legislation and the lowering of the taxes we brought in earlier this year, in February.
One thing we have seen in Haldimand-Norfolk and in the area surrounding the Six Nations is a great reduction in the number of smoke huts. Prior to the dropping of the taxes there were in the neighbourhood of 150 tobacco huts. Today it is very difficult to find one or two on the reserves. Some of them are now dealing in commodities other than tobacco, more than likely spirits of some sort, but it certainly has had a dramatic impact in that area.
It was the elders, the senior people of the Six Nations who came to me most often and said: "You have to deal with this situation. We don't like what it is doing to our children. We don't like the money aspect it has instilled in our children of going out and trying to make a quick buck". A lot of the time these elders felt that the children were moving away from the old ways and the old teachings by getting into this money grabbing exercise. They certainly were very pleased by what this government has done.
In the past I have talked about how taxation policy has been to the detriment of the tobacco industry. It has been that way because governments have not been able to give the industry-when I talk about the industry, I talk about the tobacco farmers-an idea of their taxation needs over the years.
Even though there is a marketing system for tobacco, when the numbers came out as to what the tobacco requirements would be for a year the government would come in later and all of a sudden apply a high tax on tobacco which would completely throw the market into an upheaval. That is why over the years I have been calling for the reduction in taxation on tobacco.
There is a major relief for the people in the tobacco growing areas. It has helped the spirit in those areas. They are good people who had been encouraged by past governments to get into tobacco. These people really do not have a number of other commodities to move into. These are good Canadians who in the past have supported good government. Over the past few months when I have been down there visiting with them they have praised the government for what it has been doing.
Constituents have not been happy with other areas of the bill. The export tax is one they see as not only against any provisions in GATT but also something that would hurt their legitimate export interests. They have called on me to tell the government, as I have in the past, that an export tax only hurts Canadian jobs and Canadian farmers. It does nothing to solve the problem.
We have gone beyond that. Because of the dramatic drop in taxation we have gone on to solve the problem. It was a tough problem. I listened earlier to the member from the Bloc saying: "Gee, why didn't you do something about it?" I remember when his leader was in the previous government which kept raising the taxes on tobacco. Why was it that his leader did nothing to deal with this situation?
We came in and there was a major problem. Maybe some people in the Reform Party and in the west did not agree with some of the things we did. It was not an easy problem but one which I suppose past governments had decided it best to just let go. Our leader decided to take it upon himself to solve this problem. From all I have seen, it has solved the problem in my area.
Some will complain that right after we brought in the new taxation the sales of tobacco went up, but that was just the situation of people resupplying. If members went into cornerstores in their ridings they could see people were moving out of tobacco sales because they were not making any money on it. People were buying their tobacco outside their normal channels.
We saw in the paper a couple of weeks ago when the numbers came out that those numbers have dropped dramatically. In fact, we are now seeing there really is not a dramatic drop. It is pretty much staying the same in terms of tobacco sales. There has not been the dramatic increase some claimed would happen and all in all, it is levelling off.
It has brought to people's attention that serious problem of how tobacco was illegally getting into the hands of young people in schoolyards. This bill makes sure that if people buy tobacco products they will do it legitimately in legitimate areas. If someone decides to sell to minors they will face the stiffest penalties there have ever been in this country in that regard.
That is good government. It is a good piece of legislation which deals with a problem Canadians wanted dealt with. It bodes well for not only the Prime Minister but also for the Minister of Health and the Minister of National Revenue who solved the problem together.
I will give the Reform Party a chance for five minutes on this. I thank the Prime Minister on behalf of my constituents in Haldimand-Norfolk for dealing with the problem.