Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as Members are aware, I went to Montreal last week to bring my wife and new son Tyler back to Yellowknife.
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I am happy to say we arrived back on Saturday evening as a complete family. Being a typical proud father, I had planned to carry on the long-standing tradition of handing out cigars to celebrate Tyler's safe, if early, arrival. So when I passed a cigar store in Montreal, I stopped in and picked up some cigars.
Now, Madam Speaker, I know there has been some concern expressed in this House of late, since the federal government and Quebec have reduced the tax on tobacco products, that there might be an enticement to smuggle tobacco products from Quebec into the Northwest Territories. Madam Speaker, I just want to assure both the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice that it was not my intent to avoid paying taxes when I purchased the cigars in Montreal.
In fact, Madam Speaker, I have checked with the Department of Finance and obtained a copy of the relevant section of the Tobacco Tax Act. I found that 60 per cent of the retail price is the tax rate per cigar. I also found that every person who resides in the NWT who bring cigars in for personal consumption or to give away, which is also covered in the act, interestingly, "shall immediately report the matter in writing to the Minister and she will supply the Minister with the invoice and all other pertinent information required by the Minister in respect of the consumption or use of the tobacco and shall pay to the Government of the Northwest Territories the same tax in respect to the consumption and use of the tobacco as would have been payable if the tobacco had been purchased in the NWT."
Interestingly, Madam Speaker, I also understand that no other individual has ever asked for this information.
---Laughter
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Madam Speaker, I have the invoice for the cigars, along with my cheque made out to the Government of the Northwest Territories, which I will now ask a page to deliver to the Premier to hand onto the Minister of Finance, please.
---Laughter
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Madam Speaker, with regard to the tobacco tax, I would like to make it clear that I support the principle of increasing tobacco taxes in order to cut consumption.
Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.