Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in February 2012 I shared findings with this House, followed with a press conference that clearly demonstrated we were not collecting our fair share of taxes on tobacco products.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations was also interested in these findings, as was the Auditor General of Canada. Since then, the Department of Finance undertook a feasibility study to investigate such findings, with the hopes of better clarity on the collections and establishing some sort of tobacco commission in the Northwest Territories.
Now, unfortunately, I will not be able to discuss the findings of the study as it belongs to the Department of Finance and is currently under committee review. All I can say at this point is the Department of Finance continues to support a process whereby we are relying on out-of-territory wholesalers to self-report on tobacco sold from their facilities to retailers in the Northwest Territories.
This self-reporting I referred then as the perfect loophole in our tobacco tax collection. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, this has not changed.
We have a serious flaw in our system of tobacco tax collection which has been going on for years, yet after every measurable attempt to persuade the department to retool their program, we are no further ahead than we were 20 months ago. This is shameful, Mr. Speaker.
The public deserves the utmost confidence that our tax collection system is foolproof and without the potential doorway of exploitation.
I was elected to this position to scrutinize every dollar spent by this government and maximize the same in revenue collection. Accountability, transparency and protecting the public purse is not just a slogan I casually throw around and I take it with extreme prejudice when, for the second time this week, I have to publicly remind the Minister of Finance that money is being left on the table. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
