Mr. Speaker, we certainly appreciated the hon. member's lesson in economics as he calls it.
Coming from one of the ridings along the 49th parallel between Canada and our good friends to the south, I can give a bit of a history lesson on the smuggling of tobacco products, what it meant to my constituency and the businesses and more so the criminal element that it initiated that crept in.
I appreciated the hon. member's comments. I believe that the majority if not all members in this House would indeed support an action that would reduce or eliminate smoking by our youth and indeed by every citizen in this country. I am sure that would be the case.
Whether it is through reduced taxation to be competitive or through smuggling those same tobacco and cigarette products which are and have been available over the past number of years, this whole scenario has created an opportunity for the criminal element to make quick profits at the expense of not only Canadian citizens but the revenue of government through taxation and certainly certainly our youth.
It is not only the criminal element. Because of the wide variation and differential between prices due to taxation, we also saw tobacco products being brought across the border that were very legal.
Would the hon. member agree that the actions taken by the government in this bill to eliminate tobacco smuggling across our borders was not only the correct option but the option that has in fact worked as we have seen over the last two or three months? Since that action was taken the criminal element has been reduced at our border crossings and, as he has indicated,
many arrests have been made. This action taken by the government has indeed worked. I would like to hear his comments.