Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, yesterday in committee of the whole, I made some observations about the tobacco tax situation. The purpose of this Member's statement is to qualify my position on this issue. I am in full support of our government's raising of taxes on cigarettes to discourage the younger generation from smoking.

However, Madam Speaker, with this tobacco tax, the Northwest Territories will pay the highest price in Canada for cigarettes, and, unfortunately, not spend enough.

Even with the announced federal funding on anti-smoking education, if we are going to make this tax grab, we should be prepared to spend and access revenue realized on anti-smoking programs.

The federal government has announced an assault on Canada's social programs. At the very least, Madam Speaker, I can see old age pensions being frozen at their present levels for awhile. As with any government austerity programs, it is the poor and those on fixed incomes who suffer. Madam Speaker, I remain convinced that we should not charge seniors the extra tax that we are proposing to add to tobacco. The elders of these territories grew up in a different time, a time when smoking was considered a social necessity. We must remember, Madam Speaker, that most institutions up here, at the turn of the century, encouraged smoking. Tobacco was a cheap, light trade good, so, of course, Madam Speaker, the traders and the Hudson's Bay Company did everything they could to get our forefathers hooked on tobacco. Let us not penalize our older citizens, the majority of whom are on fixed incomes, by raising the tax on tobacco for them. Madam Speaker, we must remember that they are a product of a different time. I encourage the Minister of Finance to offer an exemption of this tobacco tax to our elders. Mahsi cho.

---Applause