Mr. Speaker, this is a particularly important bill in my region.
My local health services, my county health unit and so forth, have come out in support of it. In Peterborough this week, for example, one of the local newspaper has taken this on as an issue. We are trying to prevent cheap cigarettes from getting to our school kids.
One of the deterrents that we have put in place to prevent people from becoming addicted to tobacco and then suffering the tobacco-related illnesses later in life is to make them cost prohibitive. Often these contraband cigarettes are exceptionally cheap. They undermine the tax system as well.
Setting that aside, we want to ensure we are preventing children from having access to tobacco. Could the member speak about the importance of doing that and why the government has brought in this bill in at this time?