Mr. Speaker, I will begin by accusing my colleagues in the House of the wrong motive in agreeing to split my time with the member who just spoke. I think they did so to avoid listening to me for 40 minutes. I could speak to the issue for at least 40 minutes and now I will be limited to 20. That is really regrettable. However I shall do as well as I can in the time allotted.
I cannot believe that as a member of the Canadian Alliance I am standing in the House of Commons this day to speak in favour of higher taxes. I cannot believe I am doing that, yet I must support the bill because of its objectives. It bothers me to speak of higher taxes because we are already taxed to death. We are taxed at every turn. We even have taxes on taxes. The government collects GST on excise and gasoline taxes. The same is true for cigarettes. There are taxes on cigarettes and then the 7% GST on top of that.
I am, however, in favour of this tax. I cannot believe it and yet I am. My apologies to friends, constituents and Canadians who expect us in the Canadian Alliance to consistently oppose higher taxes and the burden they create for our citizens and young people. However this is an issue that we are appropriately addressing. This is a health issue and our concern is to reduce smoking, especially among young people.
I do not know if my colleagues have thought about it, but what attracts young people to put a bunch of weeds wrapped in paper into their mouth, light the end of it and suck on it? It is a strange motivation and I have often wondered about it.
My colleagues will be disappointed in this, but when I remember my own youth I must confess, with humble heart and bowed head, that on an occasion or two, actually two, I succumbed to the temptation.