Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise today to support the position taken by the government, as outlined by the Minister of Finance on tobacco taxes, yesterday.

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I am sure that there will be many critics of the decision. I am sure the smokers of the Northwest Territories are going to see their fellow and sister smokers smoking at half price across the country. I am sure there will be those who say we won't be able to control smuggling in the Northwest Territories. But I think the decision was the correct one for three reasons.

The first reason, as outlined by the Minister of Finance, is health. We not only have a high percentage of our population smoking in the Northwest Territories, more so than anywhere else in the country, we have a higher percentage of our young people smoking in the territories than anywhere else in the country. The first time we had a noticeable decrease in smoking among young people was when we raised the taxes on cigarettes.

The second reason is that, the nature of this deal, which was a bilateral deal between the federal government and Quebec, solved the problem in Quebec but created a whole series of problems across the country. We have some problems with how our confederation works when that is the approach.

The third issue is that of finances. The Minister, quite rightly, pointed out that $2 million in revenue that we'll lose, but in the long term there's a much more significant financial cost. Right now, we are blessed by having a young, relatively healthy population and our health costs in the Northwest Territories are a lot less than in many other jurisdictions.

But that won't always be the case. All these young people, eventually are going to be middle aged people like many of us, and old people like some of us. At that time, we will really see the real cost of increased smoking now. There will be such a significant jump in our health care costs, 15 or 20 years down the line, that I don't think we'll be able to absorb that cost.

Madam Speaker, can I seek unanimous consent to continue my statement?