Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there is a lot of cooperation between Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, ourselves and Yukon with regard to an agreement we have to prevent cigarettes from being smuggled into any of those jurisdictions. Sometimes we get tips from other jurisdictions that tobacco and, in some instances, liquor is being moved into the Northwest Territories illegally. One of those tips has turned into a court case in Norman Wells. We have had good cooperation from our RCMP. In Iqaluit, again, the same thing: there was a tip-off to the RCMP. Again, there was good cooperation. We are not out there as policemen looking in every car and checking every package that comes into the Northwest Territories, but for the most part, we are acting on information provided to us, Madam Speaker. We are acting on information that falls out of audits. We are receiving good cooperation from the RCMP. The law is being used properly and the RCMP are not having any problems enforcing that law. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

There is some cost to enforcing any law, so I am wondering if the Minister has any idea or can he estimate the cost to enforce this Tobacco Tax Act?

Madam Speaker, we have people in the Department of Finance who work on taxation issues all the time. I don't know how much of their time is spent enforcing the Tobacco Tax Act. I can try to ascertain what that is and provide the information to the Member. As far as when the police are called in to make a prosecution or do a search, that is covered under the agreement that we have with Canada for paying for 75 per cent of the RCMP costs in the Northwest Territories. Again, I don't know what that cost is, but as far as our own costs, I will try to ascertain what they are and how much time is being spent on it, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi. Currently, our biggest law enforcers are the RCMP. Over the past few days, the Minister has been aware of some of the issues concerning the use and deployment of RCMP officers throughout the north. Generally, people in the communities want the RCMP to be used to deter or to solve crimes. So how much of a priority, with respect to law enforcement, is being put onto the RCMP, as compared to more areas that are people-related in terms of criminal activity?

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, before implementing the tax and making the changes to the Tobacco Tax Act, we discussed the issue with the RCMP and they said they would act when called upon. Our particular concern was Iqaluit, and I have said that in the House before. They sit right on top of Quebec and we know that this is where the problems started with the lowering of the federal tobacco taxes. There is probably greater attention paid to it in Iqaluit than there is in the rest of the Northwest Territories.

But as far as how far down the scale it is with regard to other areas of problems in communities with people or crime, I would say it falls below those. It is not a high-priority issue. It isn't something that I have got lots of pressure on the RCMP for, saying get out there and catch these people. We, as I have said before, usually act on information provided to us in specific circumstances or provided to the RCMP and then we ask them to act on it. It isn't a high priority with the RCMP as far as I am concerned. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. When we pass laws and debate laws here, we are always looking for some benefit; a benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories. In our discussions leading to the act, we talked about some of the so-called benefits to people such as their health. The higher prices would maybe reduce smoking, so can the Minister give us some ideas of the benefits since the enactment of the Tobacco Tax Act?

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, numbers that we looked at for the first three months of last year versus the first three months of this year, indicated an increase in tobacco sales in the Northwest Territories.

With regard to the benefits to the Northwest Territories, we protected the $2 million that we were likely to lose because of the lowering of the federal tax and we picked up above the $2 million, some more money because we raised our taxes. We are still very concerned about the number of young people who are smoking in the Northwest Territories. We believe that price is a deterrent to more people smoking greater volumes and taking up the habit. But, Madam Speaker, I can't say that raising the prices made a lot of people stop because our numbers don't indicate that. I would say that we are merely holding our own against people smoking. I believe there is still an increase, particularly in young women, smoking in all of Canada and the same in the Northwest Territories. I believe, Madam Speaker, we have more smokers per capita in the Northwest Territories than statistically across Canada. It is still a great concern to us.

Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions, Mr. Clerk.