Mr. Speaker, the government's latest cigarette tax is a huge incentive for the resumption of cigarette smuggling through the Akwasasne reserve, but we have not even laid charges yet for the last round of smuggling seven years ago.
In February of 1994 the Deputy Prime Minister said that 700 RCMP officers would be dedicated to anti-contraband operations and that anyone participating in cigarette smuggling in any capacity whatsoever would be subject to the full range of sanctions and penalties provided under the law. Four years later, in 1998, an affiliate of RJR Reynolds tobacco was fined $15 million in the United States for helping smugglers slip exported Canadian cigarettes back into Canada through the Akwasasne reserve.
I wonder if the Deputy Prime Minister can tell us why, after seven years on the case, his 700 dedicated RCMP officers still have not laid a single charge in Canada. Are they simply incompetent or have they been told to keep their hands off the Prime Minister's golfing buddies?