Madam Speaker, there have been illegal tobacco products detected in Iqaluit. I believe that matter will soon be before the courts. There was another incident in Norman Wells, where Alberta and ourselves discovered somebody who was bringing in tobacco, and that will go before the courts shortly. I'm not saying that there haven't been any incidents of smuggling in the Northwest Territories. There certainly have been two that we've been able to catch.
With regard to direct mail, we are discussing with Canada Post this week whether it is legal to put those flyers into mailboxes because they had told us they weren't going to do that. We will try to get that matter straightened away.
Two weeks ago at the Ministers of Finance meeting, the western Finance Ministers got together to discuss the issue of Manitoba who is sort of right on the front line, as Iqaluit is, with regard to being next to jurisdictions where there are lower tobacco taxes. Manitoba is not seeing any erosion of their market either, and they attribute that to the fact that most Canadians are honest people and they are not interested in smuggling. I think that is the case in the Northwest Territories as well, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, I am aware of an incident in Iqaluit where there is a business person who believes they are seeing lower sales; whereas, our records indicate the same, if not greater, supplies going to that particular merchant. We are trying to work out that problem, to see where this discrepancy is occurring. Thank you, Madam Speaker.