From: National Post/Opinion
OTTAWA -Stockwell Day launched a new contraband tobacco control strategy yesterday that could only work in Canada: He appealed to Canadians to please, please drive past smoke shacks selling 200 cigarettes in clear, plastic resealable bags for as little as $6 and instead fork over $75-$90 for legal cartons.
“I’m asking individuals to consider that they are contributing to a dangerous pipeline of criminal activity. This is not a victimless crime or a benign activity,” the Public Safety Minister said at a press conference.
Mr. Day’s appeal to our better angels probably has more chance of success than the rest of the strategy, which consists of dismantling manufacturing facilities, disrupting supply lines and seizing illicit tobacco.
This is because 90% of the contraband seized thus far in Canada originated from factories on the U. S. side of the Akwesasne reserve, which straddles the American and Canadian sides of the St. Lawrence River, and there are few signs that U. S. authorities are anywhere near as enthusiastic about shutting down businesses on Indian land.
There are said to be 13 factories on the Akwesasne-St. Regis Mohawk reserve, churning out millions of cigarettes, which are then loaded into vans by organized criminal gangs and spirited across the river onto reserves on the Canadian side, before being shipped to our cities.
The factories are licensed by the St. Regis Tribal Council, which governs the U. S. side of the reserve, but only one has approval from the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A federal licence is required to manufacture tobacco products, even on native land, but the prospect of confrontation means no one has moved to close down the factories, or intercept shipments of raw tobacco from North Carolina (it’s illegal to supply tobacco to a manufacturer that lacks a valid U. S. licence).
