Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm aware that there may be some concerns expressed by some Members about some provisions of the bill. I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that the situation in Iqaluit is a special one, with pretty well daily jet service from Montreal and Ottawa. It is therefore going to be extremely difficult, now that this bill will increase the price of cigarettes, to prevent people from illegally importing tobacco to Iqaluit and, I suspect, from Iqaluit to other communities.
I have to say that it is now unfortunately quite commonplace for people in my community to order tobacco with food grocery orders. One of my constituents told me just last week, he can easily cover the cost of the freight for the food in a typical order with the savings obtained for cigarette prices. I think that is the problem that the Minister of Finance and his officials are going to face in Iqaluit. I'm not yet aware of any organized smuggling operations in the community, where people are selling cigarettes out of the back of taxicabs or other places. That may come. But what has certainly happened is there has been a mushrooming of the ordering of food and tobacco.
I'm told that it has been a bit of a bonanza for airlines and their airfreight business has gone up significantly, at least in the grocery area, ever since the federal government dropped prices so dramatically in Quebec. Mr. Chairman, I'm a person who, like Mr. Dent -- who spoke very well on this issue -- has supported increasing taxes on cigarettes a number of times over the year. I think there is clear correlation between the price of cigarettes and the amount of smoking. It is a deterrent to raise prices. It could look like we're doing the right thing today, but I have to say that there are going to have to be some real efforts made in Iqaluit if we're to avoid the opposite effect, and that is a leakage of tax revenues to southern Canada. Incidentally, that will undermine the local retail sector in the community.
I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that I am pleased that the Minister has gone to the trouble, since all of this happened in a hurry, of not just increasing the tax but recommending enhanced collection and enforcement measures. How those measures are going to work or whether they're going to work remains to be seen. I think it's important that efforts be made to deal with this issue. It will remain to be seen just what, precisely, is going to be done, but at least if this bill passes, our government will have the tools to take stronger action than has been taken now. That is helpful.
If it gets to the stage of more active smuggling business, which unfortunately is also often associated with alcohol and drugs, then we may well need additional police presence in Iqaluit, if not the Baffin region. Mr. Chairman, I want to just say that I will support this bill, but I will support the bill as a whole. I don't think we can take bits and pieces of it and take the tax increase without the enforcement measures, for example. That won't work at all in my constituency and perhaps in the whole of Baffin.
My respectful advice to the honourable Members is take the whole bill. If we're going to approve it, then approve it with the enforcement and, yes, search and seizure provisions. There is a substantial amount of revenue involved here and I think we need to have the tools to let people know that their obligation as residents of the Northwest Territories is to pay taxes to the government that they expect to provide them with services in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.