Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice for his speech on Bill C-10. The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights worked extremely hard on this file. I enjoyed working with my colleague on it. Contraband tobacco is not a straightforward topic.
However, I am wondering about something. The opposition we heard in committee came from first nations chiefs who are concerned because they were not consulted about this, despite the fact that they are often the ones who are most affected by tobacco smuggling. It sometimes happens on their land.
According to clause 4 of the bill, the legislation will come into force on a date to be fixed by order in council, so I am wondering if the parliamentary secretary knows if his government intends to use the time it has before the bill's implementation to have those extremely important conversations with first nations in the areas that are plagued by tobacco smuggling. It is unfortunate that it would be happening after the fact, when it should have happened beforehand.