The member may think I should shut up, but the constituents of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell where a lot of this contraband is going on have asked me to be here. They elected me.
No, I will not shut up, particularly on this issue while my constituents are being shot at, while people like those I have just heard are pontificating from afar. No, I will not shut up. I will not stop defending the constituents of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
I say to the member across, if he is advocating and it is the Reform Party position that those who speak on behalf of their constituents should shut up, I am glad to hear it on the record. It will make for great stuff in the next election if that is the position of the Reform Party.
I come back to the member's statement, he who is advocating higher taxes. It is a radical position for the Reform Party, I must say, but if he espouses that position I suppose it indicates that there are free votes across the way. There will probably be a few more who think otherwise. He said that some contraband cigarettes were made in the United States. He also said that increasing taxes in the United States at the same time as increasing taxes in Canada would solve the problem.
First, it takes two years to get a tax increase through the United States Senate. I am sure the member knows that because it was indicated last fall.
Second, does the member know that the cigarettes illegally manufactured in the United States would not have been taxed to start with because they were illegal? There was a 7 per cent and growing penetration of counterfeit cigarettes. Those cigarettes bore Canadian brand names and were made in warehouses, some located in Canada, some in the United States, some in New York state, some in southeast Asia and some in eastern Europe. If the member paid any attention to what was said last week in this House surely he would know that.
Does he not know that what he is saying today would not work and that my constituents would have continued to be shot at by thugs? Does he not care?