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Sunday, September 04, 2005
GOVERNMENT TAKES ACTION TO PROTECT THE HEALTH OF ONTARIANS
August 29, 2005
First Air Standards Update In 25 Years Will Reduce Pollution Limits; Improve Air Quality
TORONTO — The Ontario government is protecting the health of Ontarians and improving air quality with tough air pollution limits for industry, Environment Minister Laurel Broten announced today.
“These changes will mean cleaner air, healthier communities and healthier Ontarians all across the province,” said Broten. “In parks, playgrounds and schoolyards every one of us will breathe easier thanks to our government’s Five-point Action Plan for Cleaner Air.”
These new industrial air standards protect Ontarians from the effects of industrial air pollution. The standards will be phased in over five years to give industry time to plan for and meet the tougher limits.
“We are very supportive of the ministry’s actions to improve local air quality in Ontario ,” said Dr. Ted Boadway, Executive Director of Health Policy, Ontario Medical Association. “This regulation will better protect public health and the environment. It will also help us better understand air pollution sources in local communities and encourage community involvement in developing solutions for site specific air issues.”
“Dofasco welcomes the Ministry’s new air standards regulation and appreciate the consultative approach used in its development,” said Jim Stirling, General Manager, Environment and Energy at Dofasco Inc., a major steel producer in Ontario . “The risk-based process for air pollution requirements and new air dispersion models are critical components of the regulation that will enable industry to grow while improving their environmental performance.”
These new rules, along with an updated air dispersion model, are the final piece of the McGuinty government’s Five-Point Action Plan for Cleaner Air, announced in June 2004. This plan will make Ontarians healthier.
Media Backgrounders:
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/news/2005/082901.htm
Anti-pollutant regulation expanded -ON
Steve Erwin Canadian Press Monday, August 29, 2005
Critics want more action
TORONTO -- More pollutants will be regulated under revised Ontario air quality standards for industry announced Monday, but they're still not far reaching enough for some pollution critics.
Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten said new standards are being put in place for 40 pollutants -- up from 29 initially announced by the province last year -- in its plan to combat air pollution across the province.
The standards are part of a five-point plan first unveiled in June 2004 that also includes applying tougher standards on industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulphur dioxide (SO2), known to be smog-causing pollutants. Broten confirmed Monday that the new regulations take effect Nov. 5, with a phased approach that reaches tougher targets by 2010.
Among the pollutants identified by the province for new standards are cyclohexane, which is used to make plastic and rubber products and has been linked to potential fetal development problems.
New pollutants also given revised standards include hydrogen chloride, which is emitted by coal-fired power generators; ammonia, emitted from chemical and fertilizer production; and acetaldehyde, which stems from chemical production and leather tanning.
Some of the pollutants "include carcinogens and other toxins that threaten the health of Ontarians each and every day," Broten said.
Some of the new standards impose regulations "a hundred times stricter than standards that have been in place since the 1970s."
Pollution experts on hand for the announcement at a downtown Toronto day-care centre applauded the initiatives, but there was question whether the new measures are tough enough and are being implemented quickly enough.
"I think we all know that we need to go further on the NOx reductions and even the SO2," said Ken Ogilvie, executive director of environment watchdog Pollution Probe.
Ogilvie said the timetable of reducing SO2 emissions by 2015 is "out there a bit."
Ogilvie's wider concern is that the government won't hire enough staff to assess whether industrial users are meeting the regulations and enforce them.
"Governments put regulations in place and then don't back it up," he said.
"You need a physical presence of real bodies to do the assessments that are called for."
Industrial companies will be asked to self-report emissions to the government. That raises the question of whether companies will be honest in such reporting.
Broten said ministry staff will be making such assessments.
"In moving the yardstick forward ... it will be only as good as we can enforce it. We'll be working very closely with industry to make sure that they comply."
Dr. Ted Boadway, director of health policy for the Ontario Medical Association, called the new regulations a positive step.
"We've been interested and concerned about the air quality in Ontario for some time. The fact is that after a long period of not actually doing much about it, something is being done," he said.
Just two months ago, an OMA report suggested air pollution in Ontario will result in nearly 5,800 premature deaths and cost the province $1 billion this year.
Boadway shied away from commenting on whether the province is moving fast enough to tackle pollution problems.
"That's a future topic," he said.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.html?id=95f9685a-2371-45fd-9d39-a2ca28ac78c0
The war on smoking isn't over yet
Neil E. Collishaw National Post August 31, 2005
Smoking at a new low in Canada," declared the self-congratulatory headline on the Aug. 11 edition of the National Post. Yes, Canadians deserve to pat themselves on the back for this significant achievement. But much more work needs to be done.
When the first government survey on smoking was conducted in 1965, more than half of Canadians smoked. Today, the percentage of Canadians who smoke on a daily basis has fallen to 15% (although a further 5% smoke occasionally).
It took several decades for governments to develop, implement and refine the comprehensive set of measures that have been proven effective at reducing smoking rates. In the 1960s, we learned that public education, by itself, was not enough. In the 1970s, we learned that tobacco industry marketing had to be curbed and that prices had to be raised, and in the 1980s we began to find ways to do so. In the 1990s, we learned that changing the social norms around smoking was also an important way to help people quit. Just before the turn of the century, Health Canada applied those lessons. The result was dramatic: The number of Canadians who smoked dropped from six million to five million in only five years.
With such success, can we now devote our energies and resources instead to significant new health challenges such as SARS, AIDS, obesity and diabetes? Sadly, no.
Tobacco is still the biggest public health problem in the country. At last count, it was killing 47,000 Canadians a year, far more than all the other major public health problems combined. The health care system is heavily burdened by the one-third of cancers caused by smoking and by the other diseases that are difficult and expensive to treat.
Even with the progress we have made to reduce the number of new addicts, tobacco will claim more years of life and cause more health care costs than any other single behaviour or product for many years.
Nevertheless, there is plenty of reason to feel confident and optimistic. Today, most parents will realize their hope that their children will become adults without ever smoking. In the first four years of this century, the percentage of Canadians in their very early twenties who had never smoked had grown from 59% to 63%.
And there is more to cheer about. In the same four years -- from 2000 to 2004, the number of teenagers who smoked had fallen by 143,000. This means that 18,000 more Canadians will live to the age of 70 than would otherwise have been the case. (Here's how the math works: Half of those who start smoking will likely quit, half of those who continue to smoke will die from diseases caused by smoking, and about half of those deaths -- one eighth of the total original population of smokers -- will happen before the age of 70.)
So why don't we just declare victory, celebrate 18,000 saved lives and move on to new challenges? Because the problem remains that in the past four years alone, 378,000 young Canadians have been lured into smoking. Exactly the same mathematics applies to this unfortunate group: About one-eighth of them -- 47,300 -- will die prematurely before age 70 from smoking. We may have prolonged 18,000 young lives by bringing in effective tobacco control strategies, but we have shortened 47,000 others by not bringing in measures that are effective enough.
Well, you may say, smoking is going down, so the problem will eventually take care of itself, so we can quit worrying about it.
Unfortunately, no. The existing comprehensive set to tobacco control measures are working and certainly should be continued and improved. But if we are to prevent large numbers of needless future premature deaths from tobacco, new and tougher measures will be needed.
Rather than declare victory over tobacco, we need to strengthen the fight against it. Exactly because we know public measures will work, we have the responsibility to find the measures that sustain the momentum built over the past five years. If we can keep it up, we should be able to achieve a planned, complete phase-out of smoking over the next 25 years.
To do this, new measures will likely be needed. We believe that a wholesale reform of the tobacco market can be achieved, so that no Canadian is involved in trying to get people to smoke, and that all Canadians who provide cigarettes are doing so in ways that support smokers' efforts to quit, and provide those who do not wish to stop smoking with the least harmful products which serve their addiction.
Unless we make the commitment to develop new and better methods, we will continue to condemn tens of thousands of each generation to early death by tobacco and to burden the health care system with the costs of treating entirely preventable diseases.
Because we have the means to prevent smoking-related deaths, preventing just some of them is simply not good enough. We need to prevent all of them.
Neil E. Collishaw is research director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=b4b8ac80-411c-41e9-a859-9e2ecf1690bc
Duff wants smoking snuffed
Lloydminster’s contrasting smoking laws continue to burn local business owners, but one alderman says it may be time for city council to re-examine its neutral position.
Leo Paré Wednesday August 31, 2005
Lloydminster Meridian Booster — Lloydminster’s contrasting smoking laws continue to burn local business owners, but one alderman says it may be time for city council to re-examine its neutral position.
Many of Lloydminster’s Saskatchewan-side businesses say they have suffered a significant loss of customers since Saskatchewan implemented a public smoking ban in January, while Alberta-side businesses can continue to allow smoking. Some owners have called for the city to implement a city-wide bylaw to even the economic playing field, but Mayor Ken Baker and city council have remained firm in their stance that smoking is an issue that should be legislated by the provinces.
Ald. Duff Stewart said he had supported council’s position on smoking until he “saw the light” during a recent summer vacation in Minneapolis, where he witnessed first-hand how much better a smoke-free environment can be.
“The pressure should stay on. There has got to be a change,” Stewart said. “The resistance in council is pretty significant, some for the right reasons, some for the other reasons. I’d like to see something happen.”
Stewart said it is important to know the details of Alberta’s Smoke Free Places Act, which was originally drafted to ban public smoking, but was watered down before passing through legislature earlier this year. Council hopes to have those details before November, but Stewart said he is skeptical of the impact the Alberta legislation will have for Lloydminster.
“We’ve always talked about a seamless community,” said Stewart. “We couldn’t get it done with the utility rebates, but we tried. I think for this one we’re not trying hard enough.
“The matter has been taken out of our hands by the Saskatchewan government, and when you travel to places in the U.S. and you find out it’s non-smoking as well, the writing is on the wall for places that want to have smoking, and it’s only a matter of time. Why not be leaders instead of followers and set our own pace?”
Baker said his position in the smoking dispute has not changed for months, and will not change until the full details of Alberta’s regulations are available to council. Only then will the city consider any sort of municipal action.
“If anybody knows anything about politics, they know you’ve got to read the regulations. The legislation says one thing, the regulations tell you what it really means, and we don’t have that,” Baker said. “Once we get the regulations, council will read them and they can decide then if they want to do nothing or if they want to do something. I don’t know what they want to do.
“We’ve said many times in the past that it’s a provincial responsibility.”
Edmonton and St. Albert banned smoking at all public establishments including bars, casinos, and bingo halls this past July.
http://www.meridianbooster.com/story.php?id=181547
Sweet-smelling solution -MB
Letters: August 31
The move to ban fragrances and smoking from public places is getting ridiculous. I have a suggestion which will eliminate the problem: why not ban people from public places? I guarantee this will clear things up.
A. E. Ammeter
Petersfield
(It would be like Petersfield everywhere.)
http://www.winnipegsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/31/1194971.html
The Government of Canada responds to Trans-Fat Task Force Interim Report
OTTAWA, Aug. 31 /CNW Telbec/ - The Government of Canada today welcomed the release of the interim report of the Trans Fat Task Force and is taking action to address its recommendations. This report provides government, the public and the food processing and food service industries guidance on actions to reduce Canadians' intake of trans fats.
"Canadians' consumption of trans fats is one of the highest in the world and the Government of Canada is committed to helping reverse this trend," said Minister of Health Ujjal Dosanjh. "Health Canada is acting upon the Task Force's interim recommendations which are a good first step. We are also reminding Canadians to read nutrition labels and choose products that are low in both trans and saturated fats. Further, we are calling on restaurants and the food service industry to accelerate their efforts to eliminate partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from their operations."
The Government of Canada is responding to the recommendations through a number of initiatives involving Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Complete details of the Government of Canada's Response and the Interim Report are available at www.healthcanada.gc.ca/transfat .
The Task Force has identified Health Canada's nutrition labelling regulations as key in helping consumers reduce trans fat intake. These regulations require that calories and the content of 13 core nutrients, including trans fat, be listed on the labels of most prepackaged foods by December 12, 2005 (December 12, 2007 for small manufacturers).
The Government will continue to collaborate with industry to reduce trans fats found in food in Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is continuing to carry out valuable research on trans fats. It will also be putting together a list of Canadian not-for-profit food processing development centers that can help food companies work towards reducing or eliminating trans fats in their products.
The Task Force will continue to gather information in the coming months and a second public consultation is scheduled for fall 2005. The final report, which will contain recommendations for an appropriate regulatory framework and for the introduction and widespread use of healthy alternatives to trans fats, will be provided to the Minister of Health in late fall 2005.
Public Inquiries: (613) 957-2991; Health Canada news releases are available on the Internet at http://media.health-canada.net
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/31/c4757.html
Tobacco companies need to butt out of our lives
Letter August 31, 2005
In reference to Richard Kokovai's letter on Aug. 29 (Government should buy the tobacco industry): Is he really saying Canadians should pay for closing down tobacco? I shudder at the audacity for this line of reasoning. Start this and there would be no end to Canadians being ripped off.
Others would want the same solution for the automobile industry, or the softwood lumber industry, or the buggy-whip industry.
Richard, these guys were in business making huge entrepreneurial bucks. Their products have been found to be addictive and to cause cancer.
We don't need to know any more. We need to tell them to butt out of our lives.
DAVE BARRIS Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=19d9d05d-6b3e-4603-89cf-f5be18f561db
Johnstown bingo hall to close soon -ON
By DEREK ABMA Staff Writer August 31, 2005
JOHNSTOWN -- There will be no more screams of "bingo" at Bingo International, just east of Prescott, after September 28.
The 43 charities and community organizations that use the facility for fund-raising events have been informed the last bingo session will take place that night.
John Goodwin, who owns Bingo International Limited with his wife Fran, said attendance has been declining at the bingo hall for the past few years, particularly in the last year.
He said he and his wife, who are retired, have lost "a lot" of money on their struggling bingo business recently, though he would not say how much.
Goodwin said attendance is down about 40 per cent from its peak in the late 1990s. Bingo International opened in 1998.
There were many factors at work in the decline of the bingo hall's popularity, but Goodwin said the final straw would have been the provincewide smoking ban that takes effect next May.
"In Ottawa, for example, when they brought in non-smoking, the bingo halls experienced a 40 per cent decline in attendance," he said. "We wouldn't have been able to withstand a five per cent decline."
Since opening the bingo hall, Goodwin said more competition for people's entertainment money has emerged, such as the Rideau Carleton Raceway slot machines in south Ottawa and the Thousand Islands Charity Casino in Gananoque.
"When Gananoque opened (in 2002), we did experience a decline right when they opened," he said. "And it was quite a decline ... It still affects us. It's the one that affects us the most."
Goodwin said many people are going to be hurt by the bingo hall's closure, including the 25 people he employs.
He also said the community will feel the impact because of the lost revenue source for more than 40 organizations that used his bingo hall to raise dollars.
"It was a good venue for some of them to raise money, certainly a lot easier than selling apples on the corner," Goodwin said.
One of the groups that will be affected by the bingo hall's closure is the South Grenville Minor Hockey Association, which was holding two events each month at Bingo International.
Carolyn Mason, secretary for the association, said an emergency meeting will be held tonight to talk about the financial impact of the bingo hall's closure and how to respond.
She said players' fees have already been paid for the upcoming season. Although the organization does not want to go back to parents for more money, Mason said that might be necessary.
"If you just can imagine the price of ice at $100 an hour and 400 kids registered, it's going to hurt somebody," Mason said.
Another group that uses the bingo hall for fund-raising is Girls Incorporated of Upper Canada, which provided various leadership and skills-development programs for females aged six to 18.
Donna Perrin, the group's executive director, said the group is out about $4,500 this year because of the bingo hall closure, when considering the twice-a-month events that would have been held during the last three months of the year.
She said programs will be reduced, but it has not been decided what will be cut.
Perrin said agencies such as Girls Incorporated that receive funding from the United Way are in a particularly tough spot.
With the United Way launching its annual fund-raising campaign next week, affiliated organizations are not permitted to do their own fund-raising until the United Way's campaign ends in December.
Perrin said she has thought about asking the United Way of Leeds and Grenville for leniency on this provision.
"The thought has certainly crossed my mind," she said. "I'm not sure how open they would be. I do plan on talking with the executive director (Judi Baril) and giving her this new information."
Steve MacArthur, owner of Bingoland Brockville, said he has told Goodwin he will, as much as possible, accommodate agencies that are using Bingo International for fund-raising.
McArthur said he will also consider hiring employees of Bingo International.
http://newsfeed.recorder.ca/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=14862
NDP should force school smoke ban
By TOM BRODBECK August 31, 2005
Since the Winnipeg School Division is too dumb to impose a division-wide smoking ban on all school grounds, the provincial government should step in and do it for them.
After all, if the province can force adult smokers to butt out in privately owned drinking establishments, surely to goodness they can impose a province-wide smoking ban on all school grounds.
Winnipeg School Division trustees voted narrowly against a divisionwide smoking ban on all school grounds this week.
Seems they were concerned that if they implemented such a ban, students may be forced off school property to smoke, putting themselves at risk.
Now there's backbone -- just the kind we need from the folks running the province's largest school division.
Think about that for a second. They're giving students the green light to smoke on school property -- in designated areas, outdoors -- because they're afraid some kid may wander off and get hurt or fall prey to drug dealers and street people?
Do these kids not walk their neighbourhood streets already -- to and from school, the library, the community centre, the store? Aren't they already vulnerable to those dangers?
That's why you teach your kids not to talk to strangers, drug dealers, perverts, pimps, etc.
There was also some concern about kids littering nearby private property with cigarette butts if they weren't allowed to smoke on school grounds.
Well, Einstein, you teach your kids not to litter (parents?), you don't say it's OK to smoke. And if you have to, you discipline the kid for littering. Pull out a city bylaw and enforce it if you have to. Whatever. You don't just give up like a big dummy and say "Aw, alright, just smoke on school grounds, kid, it's OK."
Here's my favourite:
Some trustees were concerned that preventing kids from smoking may discriminate against those who come from backgrounds where smoking is acceptable.
I can't even find the right words to comment on that.
Look, you don't tell Johnny it's OK to smoke crystal meth in the basement because you don't want him sticking needles in his arms in the park with some junkies.
You teach Johnny that it's not OK to do crystal meth -- period.
I don't know where our school system lost its way over the years. But it seems those in charge are willing to accept just about any justification possible to abandon their responsibilities as educators.
Allowing students to smoke on school property is not tacit approval of smoking. It's wholesale approval of smoking. School officials can dream up all the reasons in the world why they think it's acceptable to allow students to smoke on school property.
But what they're really doing is sending the message to kids that it's OK to smoke.
It's not OK to smoke. It will kill you. It's never OK to smoke -- not on school grounds, not at home, not when you're a kid and not when you're an adult.
That's what our public schools should be teaching.
And if they can't, the provincial government has a responsibility to move in and do it for them through the Public Schools Act or through the province's smoking or tobacco laws. I can't even believe this is a debate.
http://winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2005/08/31/1194823.html
Gas Prices not such a worry as cancer & obesity -ON
The higher gas prices are not bothering me nearly as much as hearing the daily bombardment of complaints from everyone around me. There are other more important things to worry about in life rather then the fluctuation of gas prices. Everything goes up in price, including gas. It's a fact of life. If the extra $60-70 a month over a year ago is putting you out, then maybe you need to do some work on the budget. Or look for alternatives. If people worried as much about things like smoking and obesity as they do the price of gas, we would have a lot of healthier people around.
Adam Sholdice Georgetown
(See next letter)
September 1, 2005 letters -AB
RE: A. Ritchie's Aug. 28 letter. One non-smoker gets cancer and you make the assumption that there is no link between smoking and cancer? That does not make any sense. There are mountains of data to prove that if you smoke, you have a greater chance of getting cancer.
B. Trout
(See the next letter.)
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RE: A. Ritchie's Aug. 28 letter. Kudos to Richie for bringing forth some cold, hard facts. Sensible smokers do not get cancer.
L. Collins
(Ritchie has some company.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/09/01/1196883.html
Bar profits smoked out -AB
By FRANK LANDRY, CITY HALL BUREAU Thu, September 1, 2005
Edmonton's two-month-old butt ban is taking a big bite out of business, some outraged bar and restaurant operators are charging.
And that may leave establishments with little choice but to raise prices in order to make up for the mounting losses, says an industry spokesman.
"Consumer prices are going to go up for menu items," Lindy Rollingson, president and CEO of the Alberta Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said yesterday. "There just isn't anywhere else to move."
Rollingson estimated profits are down an average of 25-40% at restaurants, casinos and bingo halls since the smoking ban kicked in July 1.
Charlene Watt, manager and head waitress at Trav's Restaurant and Silver Bullet Bar, 4704 97 St., said her sales have "dropped unbelievably." Watt said she used to take in between $800-$1,000 during a shift, but now that's closer to $300-$400.
"It's like a ghost town in here because of the smoking ban," Watt said.
"There are no smokers. They were the ones paying the bills."
Coun. Mike Nickel, who was opposed to the butt ban, said there's little that can be done about it now - and council will certainly not revisit the issue.
"It's here and so now we're just going to have to deal with it," Nickel said. "I've talked to councillors. It's a non-starter."
Not all bars and restaurants are feeling the pinch.
Blaine Stewart, general manager of The Iron Horse Eatery and Watering Hole, located at 8101 103 St., said his establishment is still hopping.
"People aren't going to not come to Whyte Avenue or the Iron Horse because they can't have a cigarette," Stewart said. "They don't come here just to smoke. They come for the experience and to have a good time."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2005/09/01/1197390-sun.html
Adam Sholdice (Letters, Sept. 1) writes that there are more important things in life than gas prices and we should change our own budgets and worry about obesity and smoking. I agree -- there are more important things. As a single father and as someone with leukemia, no one knows this better than I. And I am not obese, nor do I smoke. But believe me, that extra $100 a month towards gasoline is more than an inconvenience, to someone on a disability pension. It is one more source of stress. It may not bother Mr. Sholdice -- but it sure bothers me, particularly when oil execs are the big beneficiaries of wanton price-gouging.
Tim Thompson
Annan
(We sympathize)
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Adam Sholdice (Letters, Sept. 1) has the gall to proclaim the 25c/litre gas price jump overnight doesn't bother him and the ignorance to tell people there are more important things to deal with. How about people, including myself, who must rely on gas to make a living? The van that I drive (still nothing compared to a 53-foot trailer) takes 60 litres in an average day. Let's use the recent median of 80c/litre to compare. The difference in monthly bills between that and the current price is $1,104 to $1,518. Even more depressing is the yearly difference of $13,248 to $18,216. And this is just a cargo van! I can't even pass this extra cost off to my customers. It is another cost of doing business, trying to compete with the likes of Purolator, UPS etc. So Mr. Sholdice, try stepping into someone else's shoes before you make another comment. In regards to your other "worries," I take great care of my fitness and I don't smoke.
Derek Rostron
Newmarket
(Gas guzzling is about to become the next big vice)
http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/09/02/1198684.html
World turned upside down
Fifty years ago a student caught smoking on school grounds would have been expelled. A teacher would have been fired. But 60% of the adult population smoked, led by such notables as King George VI and Sir Winston Churchill, with virtually no restrictions. Today, a businessman is prohibited from smoking on his own property, with extreme penalties, but smoking is permitted at school. Am I the only one who thinks the world has gone mad?
Leonard Paramor
Arden
(No, we're lined up right behind you.)
http://www.winnipegsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/09/02/1198764.html
Bylaw cops are smoking out city offenders -AB
By FRANK LANDRY, CITY HALL BUREAU September 2, 2005
Edmonton's smoke police have been busy making sure everyone butts out in bars, casinos and bingo halls.
Municipal enforcement officers have issued eight tickets in the past two months to three businesses for allowing people to light up or for putting ashtrays on tables.
But David Aitken, director of complaints and investigations for the city bylaw department, said the vast majority of establishments are complying with the city's tough new butt ban.
"From all reports it's been an overwhelming success," Aitken said.
Smoking in bars, casinos and bingo halls was outlawed July 1. Scofflaws can be fined $250.
Aitken said the bylaw applies to about 400 businesses in the city.
Since the smoking ban kicked in, the city has received 32 complaints of possible violations. About half of those complaints proved to be unfounded, he said.
In addition to the tickets, the city has issued 16 warnings.
In some of the cases where warnings were issued, bar management was not aware a customer had sparked up. In other cases, bar owners did not realize smoking was also banned on patios, he said.
Aitken said everyone who was issued a ticket now appears to be complying with the bylaw.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2005/09/02/1199154-sun.html
Bingo Hall numbers Down -AB
Sat, September 3, 2005
CHARITIES IN the city of Edmonton will soon realize the effects of the smoking bylaw. Bingo hall numbers are down a fair amount. Patrons who do venture out to play do not play as many extra games. They go to smoke instead. Extra games are where a large percentage of the profits charities need come from. Bingo hall patronage in Spruce Grove and Leduc, where smoking is allowed, is up in numbers.
Jerry Deboer
(We are hardly surprised by this.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/09/03/1200568.html
Jasper hotel chain bans smoking -AB
The Edmonton Journal August 31, 2005
JASPER - Travellers who smoke will have fewer choices in Jasper National Park when it comes to finding a hotel where they can puff indoors.
Taking the marketing of Rocky Mountain fresh air to a new level, the Mountain Park Lodges chain is making all of its Jasper properties non-smoking, starting Nov. 1.
Affected by the company's decision are the Amethyst, the Marmot, the Lobstick Lodge and Pocahontas Cabins.
Conference rooms, public areas, restaurants and lounges in those hotels have been designated as non-smoking zones for some time, but the policy is now being extended to guest rooms.
General manager Bernhard Schneider says the company believes it is responding to customer demand for accommodation that is completely smoke-free.
Staff in the four mountain lodges are also eager to work in a non-smoking environment, says a company news release.
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=915bdd45-a101-47c3-8892-c47d2a0f21da
Posted at 2:50 pm by looped_ca
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Famed artist in fight of his life -AB
By ANDREW HANON Fri, August 19, 2005
For local painter Steven Csorba, next week's show and sale of his art might be the most personal and important event of his career.
Csorba, 41, has built an international reputation for his depictions of sport. He's done paintings of Wayne Gretzky and Muhammad Ali. The Oilers have commissioned him to do work. In 1991, Notre Dame University in Indiana hired him to do 20 images depicting the Fighting Irish's storied football history.
But Csorba readily admits the invite-only show at his Edmonton home on Aug. 27 and 28 will be very different from anything he's ever done before.
For sale will be 60 paintings he produced while in excruciating pain in the 18 months following cancer surgery on his jaw and neck.
The paintings, he says, "are all more on the healing side, as opposed to 'Look at me, I'm suffering.' They're very bold, colourful, almost childlike in their energy."
Creating them, Csorba explains, "really was medicine to me. When I was immersed in painting, I didn't feel any pain. I really wasn't aware of it."
He will also launch his website, www.stevencsorba.com, on Aug. 27, where the general public can see the work.
Csorba's life could easily have gone into a tailspin in 2003, when, at the age of 39, he was diagnosed with cancer.
An athlete and lifelong non-smoker, the news that he had a large tumour growing in his throat and another on his jaw was nearly incomprehensible.
He underwent an operation known as a bilateral mandibular swing, which he describes as having a surgeon saw through his jaw and down into his neck, peel his face off like Yul Brynner in Westworld and rebuild his throat with tissue taken from his arm.
The operation took 14 hours and was followed by seven weeks of radiation therapy, which ended up causing permanent damage.
The radiation killed his salivary glands, which in turn has caused his teeth to rapidly deteriorate and has even had an effect on his jawbone.
"I can't produce my own saliva anymore," he says. "I have to continually drink water. I don't get much sleep because I have to keep getting up and drinking water through the night. And my teeth are literally killing the jaw."
On Sept. 1, Csorba will go under the surgeon's knife again to remove all his teeth and reconstruct his damaged jaw. Eventually, he hopes to have prosthetic teeth implanted.
"I can't have regular dentures because I don't produce saliva," he explains.
But he also knows this next round will lay him up for many months.
"I won't be able to talk or do much else," he says. "I call it Back To Hell Round Two."
That's where the art sale comes in. Csorba is trying to raise enough money on which to live in the coming months because he'll be unable to work. Prior to being diagnosed with cancer, he owned a successful communications and marketing company, but lost it while he recovered from surgery.
Csorba has always been extremely active in the community. The father of three coaches and plays soccer and even created a development program for promising young players.
He's helping some local Rotary clubs raise $50,000 through the sale of prints entitled "Inner Peace" that he created to commemorate the organization's 100th anniversary.
And now he works with other cancer patients, helping them discover the therapeutic benefits of art.
Staring death in the face has changed Csorba's life, helping him appreciate every moment he spends on Earth, and he hopes that through his paintings he can help others treasure the precious gift we've all been given.
"I know it's a tired cliche, but I wake up every day now full of appreciation. I've learned to accept things," he says. "Everything fits together the way it's supposed to happen."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Hanon_Andrew/2005/08/19/1179009.html
MP Chuck Strahl diagnosed with lung cancer
CTV.ca News Staff
Conservative member of Parliament and deputy House of Commons Speaker Chuck Strahl has revealed that he has lung cancer.
He was once a partner in a road construction and logging firm, and says pathologists determined that his cancer might be linked to exposure to asbestos when he was younger.
"My logging days included a time when we used open, asbestos brakes on the yarders, and while my exposure wasn't that lengthy, it was intense.
"Typically, 20-25 years later, the asbestos works its ugly magic. Unfortunately, I'm right on time."
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1124738621810_120147821/?hub=TopStories
Health region enforces smoking ban on property -SK
Workers face repercussions for puffing on grounds
Janet French The StarPhoenix Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Saskatoon Health Region has started collecting the names of staff who light up on the region's grounds in violation of the organization's smoking policy.
To coincide with the provincial smoking ban, the health region instituted a new policy Jan. 1 that prohibits smoking on any property the region owns or operates, including hospitals and long-term care homes, except in designated smoking areas.
At Saskatoon's three hospitals, those designated areas are only accessible from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m.
"We're trying as a health region to role model good healthy tobacco behaviour," said deputy public health officer Dr. Johnmark Opondo. "If we have this new smoking bylaw and we don't enforce it, it becomes one of the things that just sits in the book."
The region hired a commissionaire in May to monitor health region grounds and record the names and work areas of anyone caught smoking on the property, Opondo said.
If an employee's name shows up twice on the list, the commissionaire will notify his or her supervisor. If a supervisor receives three notices about an employee defying rules, he or she could face disciplinary action, Opondo said.
The health region reports in its July-August newsletter that security personnel asked 99 smoking staff members to move off the grounds during a 13-day period.
"This is not a majority of the staff we're talking about that are being followed-up and hounded for smoking," Opondo said. "It is a small minority who are kind of still struggling with their needs for tobacco and their need for nicotine."
Although patients and visitors who violate the smoking policy will also be asked to leave the grounds, Opondo said the region won't collect their names.
Smokers who work at City Hospital and who gathered by a parkade driveway Tuesday afternoon said there might be better ways to deter them from smoking on health region property.
"I think it's a little harsh," said one female employee, who didn't want to be named. She said she'd rather pay a fine than be reported to her supervisor and have a smoking violation affect her work environment.
"It shouldn't be your department's responsibility to discipline you for smoking," she said.
A male employee who also didn't give his name said most City Hospital staff work during the day, so the fenced-in designated smoking area on the grounds -- which is only available at night -- isn't as useful.
Employees don't want to be out in the rain and cold smoking, he said, but they're addicted to nicotine and don't have a choice.
"Then again, why should the health region build a place for people to smoke when they are trying to promote health? That's the irony of it," he said.
The Service Employees International Union Local 333, which represents licensed practical nurses, maintenance workers, lab technicians and other health-care workers in Saskatoon, is looking into how enforcement of the policy is affecting its members, said president Roselyn Colwell.
In particular, the union is concerned that staff who work 12-hour shifts don't have enough time during their smoke breaks to get to an area where smoking is allowed and that safe outdoor places are available for them to smoke.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=43b3ab3d-3819-420f-a5fe-e1b8c4cc6dd6
Blowing smoke
Chris Thomas Wednesday August 24, 2005
Simcoe Reformer — Anti-smoking activists are fuming after the Quebec Court of Appeal struck down part of the law aimed at tobacco advertising this week. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that the measure prohibiting the name of a tobacco company from being associated with a public event was unconstitutional.
According to Garfield Mahood of the Non-Smokers Rights Association, the ruling “creates a loophole which can be exploited by the (tobacco) industry.” That loophole is, in effect, a cornerstone of a constitutional right impacting on all Canadians -- freedom of speech.
Canada already boasts some of the toughest anti-smoking legislation in the world with the 1997 adoption of the Tobacco Act. The Quebec ruling does little to dilute the existing restrictions on tobacco advertising and promotion. All that it says is that tobacco company names can be associated with a public event. Specific brands, however, may not be used.
In writing for the majority, Judge Andre Brossard said: “I cannot conceive that a duly incorporated company, whose corporate name was approved by the state, whose name itself bears no harmful connotation going against public order and good manners, could not legitimately use that corporate name.”
Indeed.
For generations, companies such as Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp. have, through several ownership incarnations, proven to be valuable corporate and community citizens. This area, in particular, has benefited by their presence here and conversely, suffered when their business fortunes took a downturn.
In addition to the thousands of jobs and services they have created, tobacco companies have traditionally supported a wide variety of cultural and sporting events across this country. When they were prohibited from taking part in these sponsorship activities, many popular and worthwhile endeavours were left without the support they required to exist.
It’s highly questionable that preventing tobacco companies from associating their brands with tennis tournaments, car races, entertainment spectacles or even fireworks displays would encourage anyone to smoke. And attempts to eradicate even a tobacco company’s name from the landscape are patently unfair and overbearing.
The companies themselves have largely accepted almost draconian restraints on their business. Yet the powerful publicly funded anti-smoking lobby appears insatiable in their attacks on legitimate business interests.
Everyone knows that tobacco consumption is not good for them. Yet 20 per cent of the population chooses to continue to smoke. The companies are merely catering to these Canadians, as is their right. Because tobacco remains a legal product, companies should be allowed to advertise their presence in the marketplace. We may not agree with the products they purvey, but we can simply choose not to consume them.
For its part, governments’ position on tobacco has been patently hypocritical. While they pass anti-smoking legislation, they are loathe to forgo the billions of dollars in taxation that tobacco generates. If legislators are truly convinced of the evils of tobacco, let them declare it an illegal product.
Until then, the anti-smoking lobby is only blowing smoke and venturing into areas which can impact on the constitutional rights of all Canadians.
Freedom of expression is a nebulous concept and possibly open to abuses. Yet it remains one of the cornerstones of the liberties we hold dear in this country and it must be preserved.
To legislate unreasonable restraints on individual or corporate expression is a slippery downhill slope.
http://www.simcoereformer.ca/story.php?id=180416
Tobacco ruling may be appealed
CanWest News Service Wednesday, August 24, 2005
REGINA - The federal government should appeal Monday's ruling on tobacco advertising to the highest court in the land, federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh urged Tuesday.
The minister said allowing tobacco companies to sponsor events poses a health risk to Canadians.
"We are going to be thoroughly studying the complex judgment and if there is any basis for appeal we will be appealing it," he said. "We want to maintain our leadership on this issue in the world and of course that has an impact on the health of Canadians."
The comments Tuesday came after the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the majority of Ottawa's tough anti-tobacco advertising law Monday, but struck down provisions prohibiting tobacco companies from sponsoring events.
The court said tobacco companies should be allowed to sponsor events, but under their corporate names rather than the brand names of their cigarettes.
Federal Justice Department officials said Tuesday the split decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal is a complicated one and the government will have to study it carefully before deciding whether to seek leave to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Any appeal much be launched within 60 days.
Monday's ruling opens a loophole in the law that tobacco companies could exploit, added Dosanjh. If a company launched a brand of cigarettes whose name mirrored the company name, sponsorships in the company name could promote the new brand of cigarettes.
When it went into effect, the ban on sponsorships by tobacco companies hit arts and sporting activities across the country hard, eliminating a lucrative source of funding.
Heritage Minister Liza Frulla says Monday's ruling is good news for cultural groups across the country.
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=e4eb922c-6651-48fc-bf6e-c3f6e6385061
Appeal tobacco sponsorship decision to highest court, health minister urges
ELIZABETH THOMPSON The Gazette August 24, 2005
Warns advertising poses risks. Heritage minister says ruling is good news for cultural groups with fragile funding
The federal government should appeal Monday's ruling on tobacco advertising to the highest court in the land, federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh urged yesterday, saying allowing tobacco companies to sponsor events poses a health risk to Canadians.
"We are going to be thoroughly studying the complex judgment and if there is any basis for appeal, we will be appealing it," Dosanjh said.
"We want to maintain our leadership on this issue in the world and, of course, that has an impact on the health of Canadians."
The comments yesterday came after the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the majority of Ottawa's tough anti-tobacco advertising law Monday but struck down provisions that prohibit tobacco companies from sponsoring events.
The court said tobacco companies should be allowed to sponsor events, but only under their corporate names - not the brand names of their cigarettes.
Yesterday, federal Justice Department officials said the split decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal is a complicated one, and the government will have to study it carefully before deciding whether to seek permission to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.
While the Quebec court struck down one provision of the law, most of the law emerged unscathed from the challenge by tobacco giants who argued the strict restrictions on advertising their products violate their right to freedom of expression.
The government and the tobacco companies have 60 days to decide whether to seek leave to appeal.
Dosanjh said he was pleased the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the majority of the law.
However, he said he would like to see the prohibition on sponsoring events reinstated.
"If you are trying to ensure that there is a reduction or cessation in the use of a product that the company is manufacturing, why would you encourage the company to be able to advertise its name?" he asked.
Monday's ruling opens a loophole in the law that tobacco companies could exploit, Dosanjh added.
For example, if a company launched a brand of cigarettes, the name of which mirrored the company name, sponsorships in the company name could promote that new brand of cigarettes.
"That was another reason why, probably, this legislation was as broad as it was," he said.
When it went into effect, the ban on sponsorships by tobacco companies hit arts and sporting activities across the country hard, eliminating a lucrative source of funding.
Heritage Minister Liza Frulla said Monday's ruling is good news for cultural groups across the country, the funding of which is often fragile.
"For the groups I represent, it is sure that if the judgment is maintained strictly in the area of culture, sports and sponsorships, it means an additional player; we allow an additional player to support events, so like it or not, for them it is a possibility to have more support, so it can only be positive."
However, Frulla said public health concerns will have to prevail.
"(Mr. Dosanjh) will have to judge the effect of this ruling on our laws, on the consequences on the level of smoking."
Dosanjh, however, downplayed the importance of the issue of tobacco sponsorships for cultural and sporting events.
"We've fought that battle already and I don't believe we want to revisit that issue. If we can maintain the prescription in the legislation, as is, with a successful appeal, we would want to do that."
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=a5820ada-ca97-4e26-98d2-e1e8ecd591bc
Reader shares woes of dealing with WSIB -ON
Wednesday August 24, 2005
Timmins Times — To the Editor:
This letter is in regards to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and my experience with denial of rightful compensation.
For those who are not aware how this system works, I have some insight for you. I’ve been focusing on this since 1980 and saved all related documentation.
I waited til now to present this information for fear I would get cut off disability income. I was 65-years-old on July 18, 2005 and will be losing both Canada Pension Plan disability and company insurance disability anyway.
WSIB will allow compensation for workers injured on the job and witness(es) verify it. On the other hand, if a worker develops health problems due to workplace environment, they tend to blame it on ‘personal medical problems.’ WSIB was set up to prevent workers from suing the employer in the event of injury or job related health problems.
It is a safety net for the employer and highly paid WSIB employees to do everything possible to discourage claimants with a long, complicated process, and mountains of paperwork.
Now for my stepfather, and my own personal experiences. First, my stepfather:
His lungs were failing badly in the early 70s and he submitted a claim for mining asbestosis, but was denied. WSIB blamed it on smoking cigarettes, which they felt was a medical problem known as emphysema.
Before he died in August 1980, he made a point of telling my brother and I that he wanted an autopsy done after he passed away. He stated that my mother could get something out of this.
Now for the ‘good’ part. Within days of his burial, the local WSIB office requested my mother’s presence at their office.
They wanted her to ‘sign-off’ the claim because my stepfather was deceased and there would be no point in keeping his records anymore.
She was very upset and l stated she would not sign anything, and then left the office in tears. The autopsy revealed severe asbestosis of the lungs, which led to a premature massive heart attack. My mother promptly received WSIB benefits monthly from 1980 until she passed away in December 2003 (23 years). By the way, I noticed the WSIB office in Timmins has a receptionist protected behind heavy glass and a security guard on duty. I suspect this set-up is for protection from disgruntled claimants.
Personally, I worked for 39 years, which was mostly shift work, in process operations in the mill. This is where mined ore is processed through a number of stages to ultimately recover precious metals.
First, I developed Renaud’s Phenomenon, known as ‘white-finger disease’, in both hands. Later, I acquired Granuloma of the lower left lung, which simply is a pocket of milling dust at the base of the lung.
I registered the two claims with WSIB early in 1996, focusing mainly on Renaud’s of my fingers, as this condition, for which there is no cure, affects my quality of life the most.
I went through WSIB’s complete, complicated process only to be denied entitlement at every turn. I even went to Toronto, at WSIB’s request, to see their specialist.
The doctor was give selected documents from WSIB and I was not allowed to bring any of my documentation, or express myself in defence. Medical tests confirmed Renaud’s, but the doctor felt it was probably caused by Rheumatoid Arthritis noted in the WSIB file given to him. Problem is, I never, ever had Rheumatoid Arthritis! I was set-up royally, in what I call a ‘Kangaroo Court.’
A Timmins specialist examined me and wrote his report stating that the Renaud’s was workplace related, but WSIB still denied my claim.
I then arranged to have an independent assessment done in Toronto, at my own expense, through the Worker’s Occupational Health Clinic.
Again, this specialist confirmed my problem and also reported it to my workplace. I sent documentation to WSIB and was denied again.
After nine years of hassles, I now have no chance for rightful compensation. As a side note, I received privileged information that 11 claims were registered with WSIB for ‘white-finger disease’ at my former workplace and only one claim was accepted for compensation benefits.
I last wrote to WSIB in Toronto June 15, 2005, stating my intentions of exposing this scam for what it is.
And to provide written consent to allow any media people, including those who produce with documentary programs, to have access to my files at any time in the future. A t.v. documentary is in my future plans so the public would be informed of my plight.
I have kept all WSIB documents and from all other sources related to my problems to confirm everything that has taken place.
Eugene Jensen
http://www.timminstimes.com/index.php?id=881
Tobacco grow case resolved -AB
CATHERINE POOLEY Wednesday August 24, 2005
Vulcan Advocate — An ongoing legal case was resolved in a Lethbridge Provincial court last week in regards to a tobacco and marijuana grow in Kirkcaldy which occurred in 2003.
A plea bargain arrangement and a guilty plea were the resolution of the case.
The resulting charges were: unlawfully manufacturing of tobacco which resulted in a fine of $20,000 and cultivation of marijuana which resulted in a jail sentence of 90 days which will be served on weekends.
All other charges were withdrawn.
It is is not illegal to grow tobacco in Canada.
Legally, an individual can grow up to 15 kilograms per person over 18-years-old in the household.
The process becomes illegal when the amount grown exceeds an individuals limit or the tobacco is sold without a licence.
Approximately 30 dried plants will give the legal 15 kilograms of tobacco, in Kirkcaldy, nearly 1,200 plants were found.
-with Advocate files.
http://www.vulcanadvocate.com/story.php?id=180217
Parking and signs missing -ON
To the editor: Wednesday, August 24, 2005
A beautiful new hospital! Have you tried to find a parking spot? Lucky you if you found one.
The bottom lot is the only available one so be prepared to climb a hill. Is the top lot for staff? If so, it should be changed as they climb easier than someone with a walker, etc.
On the long weekend in August, I drove a friend to emergency, dropped him off at the main entrance (first time there, didn't notice emergency entrance) parked, then came through the main door.
There wasn't a soul in that large entrance room and no emergency sign. I proceeded down the large hall and still no sign. Finally, I noticed someone who was working and got directions from her.
Still no sign! I'm sure there are people like me who haven't noticed the emerency. entrance.
I finally get to emergency and waited and waited, for three hours. Why, with so many doctors, why do we only have one on duty on a long weekend?
Is it that they don't want weekends or is it because the hospital doesn't want to pay?
After about an hour of children running around and more and more people coming, I decided to sit at the picnic table outside.
I was surrounded by cigarette butts. There wasn't an ashtray in sight, surely one could have been provided.
T. Barker
http://www.parrysoundnorthstar.com/1124912773/
Tobacco ruling could save women's Open
MARK ZWOLINSKI SPORTS REPORTER Aug. 24, 2005. 01:00 AM
Quebec judge loosens sponsorship rules LPGA tournament still seeking backer
Sports organizations starved for sponsorship dollars are keenly eyeing a Quebec court decision Monday to loosen federal bans on tobacco advertising.
Organizations like the Royal Canadian Golf Association, though, say they must balance their moral responsibilities against the temptation to tap into lucrative tobacco dollars that were once the backbone of several major Canadian sporting events.
"The fact that tobacco companies have funds available for sponsorships is pretty attractive," said Richard Desrochers, COO of the RCGA, which lost its tobacco sponsorship in 2001, and has a Sept. 1 deadline to announce a new title sponsor for its flagship Canadian Open women's championship.
"But an organization like ours, which is a governing body of golf, one with involvement with (youth), I would think our board of governors would probably want to weigh any decisions (to renew former funding from tobacco companies) pretty heavily."
A spokesperson said phone lines at Imperial Tobacco were ringing constantly yesterday after the Quebec Court of Appeal struck down parts of the federal Tobacco Act.
Under the ruling, sports and cultural events like the Canadian Open would be able to bear the name of a tobacco company, but not specific brands. The Tobacco Act prohibited brand and company names from being associated with sporting and cultural events. The act was passed in 1997, but its strongest anti-tobacco provisions were implemented in 2003.
Imperial, which sponsored major golf and tennis events through its Peter Jackson and du Maurier brands, reserved comment while executives and lawyers reviewed the decision.
Imperial, which launched an appeal with Benson & Hedges Inc., Rothmans Inc., and JTI-MacDonald Corp., credited the court for recognizing the company's "right to communicate with adult smokers."
Imperial, however, cautioned against tobacco advertising "attracting and inciting" youth to start smoking.
Identical concerns will likely be on the agenda should the RCGA, which needs a title sponsor to avoid cancelling the Canadian Open, pursue a tobacco company for naming rights to the Open.
"Do you really want to take money from (a sponsor) whose product is found to be harmful? ... That's where it becomes a moral question," Desrochers said.
"This (potential return to tobacco sponsorship) is something I think we'd take to our championship committee, then our executive committee, and then the full board ... it's that sensitive an issue."
After losing its tobacco sponsor, the RCGA landed the Bank of Montreal for the Open, a long-time stop on the LPGA tour. It was formerly known as the du Maurier Classic. The BMO deal expired this season.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=97135
8637177&c=Article&cid=1124833811724&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Ontario government resembles dictatorship -ON
Letter August 24, 2005
The letter from Jean Winter Aug.18, Smoking Ban Diminishes Democracy In Ontario, called it like it is. Dalton McGuinty and his appointees appear to think, since they were elected, that they are able to tell everyone how to live their lives without anyone having any recourse until the next election.
Even if a person is right, the Ontario government will tell you what you will or will not do and no one is right except them.
Ontario's democracy was spelled correctly -- dictatorship.
A lot of good men and women lost their lives over the years, and still do, trying to free people from a dictatorship.
There used to be a thing called freedom of the press, but that too is gone for fear of retaliation by the government appointees.
I fully agree with the last statement: If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read it in English, thank a vet.
J. Dawe Leamington
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=8470f560-014b-457e-bfa7-fbd476f8392b
Tobacco ruling won't boost smoking
The Gazette Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The days of tobacco companies not daring to speak their own names could soon be over - in one sense, at least. The Quebec Court of Appeal this week struck down part of the federal law that bans cigarette-
company sponsorship advertising. It is acceptable the Big Three tobacco giants cannot promote their products on race cars or in lifestyle advertising, the court said, but it is excessive to forbid the firms from simply lending their corporate monikers to sporting and cultural events.
In the 2-1 ruling, likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, the appeals court struck down parts of the federal act on the ground they violate the right to free expression. After all, Justice Andre Brossard wrote for the majority, if our laws can't prevent biker gangs from sporting their colours, why should they stop registered companies? It's a reasonable decision.
Under this doctrine there will never again be a du Maurier Grand Prix, but there could be an Imperial Grand Prix.
The anti-tobacco coalition - from non-smokers rights groups to the Canadian Cancer Society - is crying foul. These groups have been lauding Canada's sponsorship ban as a model for the world. Now they argue since the ban on tobacco-company sponsorships is at least partly responsible for declining smoking rates, this ruling will allow the industry to buy back a bit of its steadily eroding legitimacy.
Everyone can recognize there is a strong, genuine public interest in convincing smokers to butt out. But although that goal is important, so is the notion freedom of speech, even commercial speech, should not be unreasonably restricted.To put arbitrary limits on free speech, even unwelcome advertising for unwholesome products, is to start down a slippery slope. The court has tried to make the footing a little more firm and level.
After all, it's not easy to imagine anyone taking up smoking - or starting to drink, or switching cellphone providers - based solely on corporate sponsorship of an event, especially if product names aren't even mentioned. Give people a little credit.
Also, there is a distinction to be made between simply putting a company name on a tennis tournament or fireworks competition and worrisome direct promotion, such as the reprehensible tactic of giving out free sample cigarettes in bars frequented by young adults, or placing cigarette ads on billboards near schools.
More effective in the crusade to end smoking are constant public education, plus restrictions imposed in the name of public health, such as the one coming belatedly into force in Quebec next May 31. As under similar laws in Ontario and New York state, smokers in Quebec will no longer be able to light up in bars, restaurants or other public venues.
The net effect of such measures over time has been a steady drop in smoking. In fact, we may be near a tipping point at which some festivals and other events, no matter how desperate for extra revenue, will turn up their noses at tobacco company money on the ground the public doesn't approve. That day will come, and perhaps sooner than Big Tobacco imagines.
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=a882bf8c-bbca-49ad-8366-c0ee7a9e5cc2
Canadian Cancer Society Supports Tighter Smoking Restrictions -BC
VANCOUVER, Aug. 25 /CNW/ - Each year 5,600 British Columbians die from tobacco related illness. More than 500 will die from exposure to second-hand smoke alone. More must be done to reduce this growing incidence.
The Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division applauds Vancouver Coastal Health for taking the initiative on pursuing the extension of smoke-free bylaws to bus shelters, restaurant and bar patios, playing fields and other outdoor venues. The Canadian Cancer Society is committed to advocating for healthy public policies to reduce the incidence of cancer in British Columbia, and will lend its full support for such an important issue.
"Tobacco control is the single most important intervention we can implement to reduce the burden of disease on British Columbians and on our health care system", says Carol Finnie, Director, Strategic Initiatives for the Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division. "There is no known level of safe exposure to second-hand smoke, and there is only one way to eliminate it from the air - and that is to remove the source. Further, non-smoking legislation helps smokers to quit or smoke less, thus reducing smoking rates".
The City of Vancouver, one of the host cities of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, should strive to show leadership and showcase to the world that it will be the healthiest city to ever host the Olympic Games by extending its non-smoking legislation.
For more information on cancer prevention visit the Canadian Cancer Society's website
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/25/c3120.html
Smoking is bad, unless it's third-hand or you're a monkey
National Post Samantha Grice Thursday, August 25, 2005
Second-hand smoke is, of course, a detriment to one's health, but a new study has turned up miraculous findings about third-hand smoke, reports the Weekly World News. "Amazingly, it's beneficial!" says Gladys Milken, a researcher at the Important Scientific Experiments Institute. Likening the health benefits to the old adage, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Milken says she has seen substantial improvements to the immune system and skin and sends this message to victims of second-hand smoke. "You might die because someone you know smokes. But that doesn't mean you can't save some lives by hanging around with other non-smokers." Speaking of vices, The National Enquirer reports that impending fatherhood has led Ben Affleck to the therapist's couch in an effort to cut down on smoking and high-stakes poker. Also on his to do list, according to the tab: getting over the pain of growing up with an absent father and rebuilding his career. "Ben was out of control," says a friend. "But his priority is family right now -- he's busy supervising the decorating of the baby's room while Jennifer's starting on a new season of Alias." And the Weekly World News reports that cigarette companies have found a new market -- pets. "Animals like cigarettes," says a cigarette company spokesperson. "We used to give them to monkeys when we were testing nicotine addiction, and we couldn't keep the little fellas away from the stuff."
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=f302eac5-2a23-4d56-b725-93cd57ad89cb
Double standard -MB
Aug 25, 2005
On Compliments to the South Beach Casino for the cordial, efficient and entertaining atmosphere. This is an excellent example of a privately owned and operated small business disgracing a publicly funded government operation. The hospitality is well worth the extra drive to bypass the provincially operated city casinos. The only drawback is the late night drive back to the city after it closes.
When suggesting to staff the facility should be open 24 hours, they advised the Provincial Lotteries Commission regulates their hours of operation. How is it that the province can regulate their hours of operation, but they cannot enforce the provincial smoking ban?
JOHN ROTH Winnipeg
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Gold smoking bylaw too aggressive -AB
Aug 25 2005
I support our veterans in many ways and concur with Royal Canadian Legion members in their fight for freedom to choose to smoke as a private club.
As a city councillor stated, this is a health issue! Therefore, on behalf of many others and myself who have fragrance allergies, I request that "fragrance" be included in this bylaw.
Reluctantly I had to relinquish all my season tickets for the Red Deer College Arts Centre, due to the heavy fragrances in that facility.
I feel that the silver level of the smoking bylaw is a fair compromise, allowing us the freedom to choose which establishments we patronize.
If city council wants to dictate a gold-level bylaw, then it is imperative for health reasons to include this request: smoking/fragrance-free bylaw, when it goes to a public vote. Please make this amendment.
Barbara Kelloway Red Deer
http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/
When in Ottawa, lay off Old Spice
Friday, August 26th, 2005
OTTAWA -- Ottawa won't be hiring perfume police, but it may soon be asking people to lay off the Old Spice aftershave and Chanel scents.
Coun. Alex Cullen said banning scents in city buildings and vehicles could be "the new frontier after pesticides."
Ottawa's health and social services advisory committee is to discuss a report Tuesday from a member of the public that recommends the city adopt a "no-scents" policy.
The report says scented products trigger asthma attacks and skin allergies, and argues that the city run a public awareness program discouraging people from wearing scents.
The report says the city's public transit system should then be declared a "scent-free zone."
But the report says a ban on fragrances in public places, similar to a smoking ban, would be hard to enforce and is not recommended.
The Lung Association says between 15 and 20 per cent of Canadians have some kind of breathing problem and their condition can be aggravated by the chemicals found in scented products.
-- Canadian Press
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Clarification of a Smoker -AB
August 26, 2005
I AM a smoker and over 18. Smoking in establishments that allow children should not be allowed. But any establishment that only allows people 18 and over should have a choice. I will not set foot in a place that serves booze and does not allow smoking. Bingo halls already had smoke-free rooms! I am a smoker, not a leper.
L. Phoenix
(Thanks for the clarification.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/26/1188546.html
Golf's blowing smoke
DAVE PERKINS Aug. 26, 2005. 01:00 AM
Well, that figures. A couple of judges in Quebec curiously strike down a portion of the federal government's anti-tobacco legislation and, pending the inevitable appeals, some sporting organizations are wondering if cigarette money can help bolster or even save their events.
It was Ottawa's ban on tobacco advertising in the first place that affected a number of sporting and cultural festivities. Many of them survived and moved along quite nicely without cigarette money — as some people at the time argued would be the case.
Smart organizations saw the ban coming and simply adapted. For one example, cell phones have more or less become the new cigarettes. Decades ago, when it seemed nearly everybody smoked and tobacco money was all over the sporting scene, cell phones didn't even exist. Now, the guess here is that as many people use cell phones today as smoked cigarettes 30 years ago. So as one market disappeared, another of comparable size arose.
Anyway, for all the events that were able to
get along without cigarette money, one that surely did not survive intact was the women's Canadian Open golf tournament. It used to be a major and had a place of prominence on the LPGA Tour. When it lost du Maurier as title sponsor, it lost pretty much everything.
When the major designation departed, so did the best players in the world. The du Maurier name inspired loyalty among the best women golfers of the time. (It also did on the men's side, to a lesser extent, but men's golf has always been an easier sell and losing tobacco money wasn't as dire.) The women's tournament tumbled down the scale of importance to its current lowly position; this year's Halifax tournament drew almost no one of stature.
The Bank of Montreal took over a few years ago as main sponsor and has now departed, very unsatisfied with the bang it got for its buck.
The Royal Canadian Golf Association, which too often appears to be in over its head, has been trying for a couple of years to find a new sponsor that will try to restore the Open to some kind of status. Suggestions the RCGA might need to turn its needy eyes to a tobacco company, at this point in the proceedings, are ironic in the extreme. Given the wretched publicity simply associated with tobacco these days, what the feds took away, tobacco surely can no longer bring back.
It's too late to turn back this particular clock.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=
Article&cid=1125006612775&call_pageid=969907739820&col=970081601705
Smoking ban fight derailed by ruling -SK
The Star Phoenix Saturday, August 27, 2005
The Hotels Association of Saskatchewan has hit a snag in its fight against the provincewide smoking ban.
A Regina Queen's Bench judge has thrown out the association's case against the government on a technicality.
The association argued that the ban violates the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it does not apply to First Nation's casinos. However, the judge has ruled that individuals and not organizations have charter rights.
The hotels association is now looking for a hotel owner to file a case against the province, according to Global News.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=b72046e5-bbc1-4e73-99d6-a76f311aae7e
Billions Sucked Out by Money Grubbers -AB
IT WAS interesting that in his piece on Steven Csorba's battle with cancer, Andrew Hanon mentioned that Steven is an athlete and lifelong non-smoker (Hanon column, Aug. 19). I believe this demonstrates the degree to which the uneducated media and gullible public have been misled as to the association between lifestyle and cancer. The anti-tobacco parasites alone suck over one-half of a billion dollars from legitimate health care and research budgets annually through their old wives' tales linking smoking and cancer, when in fact far more non-smokers die from cancer than do smokers, and the majority of smokers never get cancer. Perhaps groups like the cancer society feel that by continually parading this red herring, they can avoid criticism over their gross ineptitude to make any real progress despite the billions of dollars squandered over the years supporting their exorbitantly expensive cast of thousands. While we continue to tolerate these money-grubbing organizations, talented and productive people like Steven will pay the ultimate price.
A. Ritchie
(Are we gonna get letters!)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/28/1190995.html
Smoking showdown tonight -MB
Monday, August 29th, 2005
WINNIPEG School Division trustee Rita Hildahl will force a showdown tonight in a bid to ban smoking completely in the province's largest school division.
Hildahl said last night that it is unacceptable that WSD still allows high schools to designate an outside smoking area on their property for staff and students.
She has a motion on this evening's school board agenda to have a total ban on smoking on division property -- schools, buildings, vehicles and grounds -- imposed as of September of 2006.
But, Hildahl acknowledged, she was uncertain if she can get a majority to back a total ban.
Trustees have repeatedly opted to let each high school decide.
Only Churchill High School and College Churchill have banned smoking entirely.
"My fear is, Winnipeg School Division property is going to be the only place in Manitoba where you can light up a cigarette," Hildahl said.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
RE: The right to a smokeless environment -ON
Published in the Chronicle Journal Aug. 29/05
I believe that non-smokers, like anyone else, have this right. But how far does that right extend?
Should it take priority over someone else's rights? Airplanes, court houses, publicly owned buildings and anywhere else an individual might be forced to go should properly be included in any smoking law.
What should not be included are places located in or on private property, providing an individual is not compelled by necessity or law, to frequent or work at that specific location.
Thomas Laprade Thunder Bay, Ont.
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/
Government should buy the tobacco industry
Letter Monday, August 29, 2005
Re: The Ottawa Citizen editorial, Authors Should Butt Out, that was published in The Star on Aug. 8. Curing the Addiction to Profits: A Supply Side Approach to Phasing Out Tobacco is a book by Cynthia Callard, Neil Collishaw and Dave Thompson, in which they spell out in remarkable detail the logic for "buying out" the Canadian tobacco industry.
The editorial reprinted from the Ottawa Citizen attempts to condemn their proposal on the basis of economics.
Yet ironically, the economics of their proposal is precisely where their idea makes sense.
The Citizen argues the buyout will have an adverse economic impact. Their example of government inefficiency in marketing is the provincial government's LCBO cash cow.
I guess making money is something reserved only for those in the private sector.
We're paying the economic price for the tobacco industry now because the costs of using their products are paid by our health care system, while the profits of the industry go into predominantly foreign pockets.
In buying and consolidating the tobacco industry into one company, we would be taking a page out of the corporate world's book by eliminating redundancies.
From a moral perspective, we already have a conundrum with tobacco, because governments derive tax revenues from its continued sale.
These governments then spend the tax revenues treating smoking-related disease while spending countless millions more trying to convince people not to take up the habit.
Tobacco executives spend just as much time and resources trying to circumvent these efforts on behalf of their shareholders.
Callard, Collishaw and Thompson argue that by taking the shareholders out of the picture, we eliminate the vicious circle and have the means to eventually, gradually, phase out the industry.
As to governments suing themselves, the authors addressed that issue, so perhaps the editors of the Citizen should read the book.
Economically unsound? Give me a break.
Richard Kokovai LaSalle
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=3303a44b-a4c9-47fe-b0d0-07305d3b0f48
BBBS feels the funding pinch -SK
Kirk Sibbald Monday August 29, 2005
Lloydminster Meridian Booster — With bingo revenues taking a huge hit from the Saskatchewan public smoking ban, local restaurants and bars aren’t the only ones finding it hard to breathe easy.
Twice a month, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Lloydminster sets up at the Lloyd Bingo Hall, calling out lucky numbers to throngs of locals with ink daubers in hand.
While these nights used to fill the building in Lloydminster’s northeast corner, not being allowed to light up indoors has dropped attendance by about 8,000 patrons so far this year.
Brenda Robinson, executive director of BBBS in Lloyd, says as a result of the smoking ban, bingo revenues – which account for nearly 25 per cent of the organization’s budget – have dropped 93 per cent in recent weeks.
“We were doing pretty good until June – we were down somewhere around the 60 per cent range – but we have had to redo our payout format, so at this point we are down approximately 93 per cent of the usual (bingo revenue),” said Robinson, adding there are also 76 children on the organization’s wait list.
The Sexual Assault Centre has also seen fundraising revenues from bingo nights drop dramatically. Executive director Muriel Ralston said total earnings have decreased about 75 per cent so far in 2005.
With core funding representing less than six per cent of BBBS total funds and nothing for the Sexual Assault Centre, community fundraising events and grants supply the bulk of their respective budgets.
Some good news came last week, when an unexpected windfall from the Alberta government prompted the city to supplement their funding to each agency, with BBBS receiving $1,000 and $2,187 going to the Sexual Assault Centre.
And though every little bit helps, Robinson said the nature of non-profit organizations means financial stability is precarious at best.
“I haven’t received word yet on the grants I’ve applied for, so I can’t say if it’s better or worse. I would have to say our funding is stable at this point, but it could go either way,” she said.
“The thing about non-profit organizations is that one day things can look good and the next day that can change completely.”
While the drop in bingo revenues most vividly illustrates this instability, Robinson said a United Way grant that was cut in half for 2005 is yet another example of how finances can change from day-to-day.
In addition to applying for more grants this year, Robinson said the organization is also spearheading more local fundraising events, such as pancake breakfasts for last weekend’s chuckwagon races and next week’s centennial celebrations.
They will also be teaming up with four other non-profits in hosting the Sept. 24 Great Dine and Duck event, which has changed this year to include dinner, a suitcase auction and impromptu entertainment.
Robinson said the extra $1,000 received by BBBS last week will be put towards the agency’s in-school mentoring program, which is currently provided at Jack Kemp and Father Gorman community schools.
The program teams adult mentors with children identified by the school as being most in need of one-on-one attention.
However, with 76 children waiting to be matched with a big brother or sister in Lloydminster, a shortfall is being seen in volunteers as well as money.
“All we need for the in-school mentoring program is one hour a week. That’s all the time that the mentor has to put in, and that’s only during the school year,” said Robinson.
“With 76 kids on the wait list, one-on-one matches are a little bit more difficult. It is a big commitment on the part of a big (brother or sister), and people tend to shy away from commitment.”
http://www.meridianbooster.com/story.php?id=180913
Lung cancer risk higher for women
Special to the Free Press Marilyn Linton 2005-08-29 01:51:24
Breast cancer is the No. 1 health fear among women, but lung cancer is our No. 1 cancer killer.
Runs and walks raise millions for breast cancer research, survivors are rightfully celebrated, and marketing the pink ribbon symbol involves everything from kitchen appliances to sparkly lip gel.
In contrast, lung cancer is clouded in shame and guilt, fundraisers for it are few and far between, and successful treatment, compared to breast cancer, has moved at a snail's pace for both women and men.
This dreadful disease is front and centre now because of the recent death of TV's Peter Jennings and the announcement shortly thereafter that actor Christopher Reeve's wife, Dana, has it too.
Lung cancer usually kills and, unlike breast cancer, we mostly know what causes it. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in 17 women (most of them smokers) will develop lung cancer, compared to one in 13 men. Every half hour or so, a Canadian woman dies as a result of smoking.
But it's not only that lung cancer, with its five-year survival rate of less than 15 per cent, is among the most hopeless of cancers; it's also one of those (along with ovarian and pancreatic cancers) that is not easy to detect.
Chest X-rays are unreliable, and though three-dimensional CT scans show promise, they are not used for routine screening. Lung cancer's symptoms (shortness of breath, coughing up blood, weight loss and fatigue) can ape a number of other illnesses. Even sputum analysis seems to evade early detection, so by the time this condition is found it has often spread to other organs.
As if all this weren't bad enough, Reeve's illness has highlighted a new and alarming trend: An increasing number of lung cancers are being diagnosed in women who are non-smokers. Statistics suggest that the number of non-smoking lung cancers in women are equal to the number of leukemia cases. In other words, significant.
Now there's an organization devoted to raising awareness of this frightful disease in women. Women Against Lung Cancer (WALC) keeps statistics, reviews treatments and raises money for gender-specific research.
It was started by a U.S. oncologist and most of its members are from south of the border, but Dr. Frances Shepherd, an oncologist from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and someone who for years has held a specific interest in women and lung cancer, is also involved.
According to the organization (womenagainstlungcancer.org), lung cancer cases have quadrupled in women since the 1960s and now are even being diagnosed in women in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Second-hand smoke is probably a big factor in cancers affecting non-smokers, but other toxins are also being investigated.
Women are more vulnerable to tobacco smoke, whether they smoke themselves or not. Second-hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease, lung cancer, cancer of the cervix and childhood bronchitis among non-smokers. Women who do smoke run a higher risk of several other cancers and women who smoke and who use birth control pills are 10 to 20 times more likely to have heart disease or even stroke, no matter what their age.
Eighty per cent of women begin smoking in their teens, and research has shown that young women who smoke are seeking independence, status, relaxation, a chance to meet friends and a heightened sense of self-esteem. Women also smoke to dull their appetites.
But women who smoke because they think it's sexy soon find that stinking breath, stained teeth and yellow fingers are not. Because smoking has an adverse effect on a woman's natural estrogen, it also quickens the aging process and brings wrinkles. By then, women are hooked because tobacco is addictive, some say more so than heroin.
It's bad news, all round. But one thing still rings true. Up to 90 per cent of lung cancers can be prevented by stopping smoking. Easier said than done -- but that's all we've got.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2005/08/29/1192243-sun.html
Society more tolerant of drug users than smokers -AB
The Edmonton Journal Monday, August 29, 2005
The Aug. 17 editorial, "No exception for tobacconbists," is less a warning about the dangers of a weakened smoking bylaw than it is a good demonstration of fallacious reasoning.
If the City of Edmonton has created a smoking bylaw to protect the health and safety of those who choose not to smoke, then it is reasonable to assume that it will do so in those areas where non-smokers will congregate in confined spaces.
However, in the case of a tobacconist's shop, who is the city intending to protect from the consumption of an as yet legal and well-legislated product?
At a tobacconist, all of the adult patrons will be either pipe or cigar smokers or people who enter the shop knowing that smoking is taking place.
The adult staff members are tobacco aficionados who enjoy pipe and cigar tobacco as a part of their daily routine and who receive training in the art of tobacco blending and smoking.
Some people actually use tobacco for the pure enjoyment of it and not because of some addiction.
They just want to enjoy it in the one place most suited to do so with other like-minded adults.
Apparently, the city has decided that Martha and Henry are too stupid to know they are at risk and must be protected from themselves.
Ironically, it might be easier on Martha and Henry if they were hooked on heroin, as they would get a clean rig, some methadone, and a quiet room to use it in -- provided at taxpayers' expense.
But God help them, they want to enjoy some tobacco only around other smokers.
So if the staff, patrons and customers of tobacconists are buying and enjoying legal tobacco, where does the public health issue come into play?
The bylaw is certainly sensible in the case of the other businesses, but a tobacconist's shop?
This bylaw goes too far. Clearly, an exception must be made for tobacconists.
Peter Sanderson, Edmonton
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/letters/story.html?id=f270db5e-7100-41ea-abe6-3fdd7f614dcb
Store fined for selling cigarettes to a minor-YK
By Candice O'Grady
Herbie’s Grocery store has been fined $500 in territorial court after one of its cashiers was caught selling cigarettes to minors.
Judge John Faulkner ruled that the previous store owner, Mary Balsam, failed to prove she had taken reasonable steps to prevent the sale of tobacco products to underaged people.
The “evidence falls short of proving due diligence,” the ruling said.
Faulkner also ordered a forfeiture of cigarettes from the store, located on Wilson Drive in the Granger subdivision.
The events that spurred the case began last September. Heelah Woo, a tobacco enforcement officer for Health Canada, was carrying out compliance checks in the territory.
This involves driving to various tobacco retailers throughout the Yukon and sending an underaged person into the store.
The “test shopper” is usually someone 15 to 16 year Posted at 2:32 pm by looped_ca
Store fined for selling cigarettes to a minor-YK
By Candice O'Grady
Herbie’s Grocery store has been fined $500 in territorial court after one of its cashiers was caught selling cigarettes to minors.
Judge John Faulkner ruled that the previous store owner, Mary Balsam, failed to prove she had taken reasonable steps to prevent the sale of tobacco products to underaged people.
The “evidence falls short of proving due diligence,” the ruling said.
Faulkner also ordered a forfeiture of cigarettes from the store, located on Wilson Drive in the Granger subdivision.
The events that spurred the case began last September. Heelah Woo, a tobacco enforcement officer for Health Canada, was carrying out compliance checks in the territory.
This involves driving to various tobacco retailers throughout the Yukon and sending an underaged person into the store.
The “test shopper” is usually someone 15 to 16 years of age who is paid $10 per hour to go into stores and ask for cigarettes.
Woo said in court the person must buy the cigarettes without trickery or lying. For example, the teen would enter the store without I.D.
Last September, a youth working for Health Canada was successful in buying cigarettes from Herbie’s.
After a first failed check, the retailer receives a letter from Health Canada stating they were caught selling cigarettes to minors in a public area, said Woo.
It also includes a list of suggestions, she said, on how to remind employees to ask for I.D.
“The policy is to visit retailers two times per year,” Woo said.
Approximately 80 to 100 checks are performed throughout the territory every year.
Herbie’s Grocery has been checked four times. It has failed the check twice, she told the court.
Woo was in the Yukon performing compliance checks again in April 2005.
Last Apr. 6, at around 3:15 p.m., she sent a 15-year-old into the store to try to buy cigarettes.
This specific test shopper was out on his fourth round of checks with Woo, so she went over the rules briefly, then sent him into the store with nothing more than $20 to buy the cigarettes.
“I told him to go at it,” she told the court.
When the youth emerged a few minutes later, he had a package of Number 7 cigarettes.
Woo went back into the store to inform the clerk Herbie’s Grocery had failed the test a second time and the government would proceed with prosecution in court.
That is standard procedure for tobacco infractions, according to Woo.
In June, the clerk, Sahra Liedtke, pleaded guilty to selling tobacco products to a minor. She was fined $200.
Crown prosecutor Susan Duncan questioned Liedtke on what kinds of training she had received with regard to selling tobacco products.
Liedtke said she was told to always ask for I.D.
Balsam, who owned the store at the time, represented herself in court. She said she also wrote a message on the staff board that said, “Ask for I.D. before selling cigarettes.”
The message was up regularly on an intermittent basis on the white board outside the staff room, she said.
Balsam estimated the message was up for about two weeks per month.
She said she had discussions with staff about the importance of not selling tobacco products to underaged people, stressing the legal implications for both the business and the individual employee.
“I believe that Herbie’s Grocery did the best that it could,” Balsam said. “There’s always room for improvement in everything we do involving preventing the sale of tobacco to minors.”
While Herbie’s had failed two of four checks, Balsam said the store’s past practices have shown the integrity of the business in not selling tobacco to underaged people.
Duncan disagreed, however, that Herbie’s Grocery had taken sufficient steps to curb the illegal sale of tobacco products to minors.
Staff did not receive adequate training nor reminders, she said. The message on the white board was “meaningless” because it was too broad and gave no specific guidelines for when to ask for I.D.
Faulkner ruled that Herbie’s Grocery was in fact at fault and did not prove that it had taken reasonable steps.
The charge falls under the federal Tobacco Act, which prohibits the sale of tobacco products to people under 18 years of age.
Herbie’s Grocery changed hands on Aug. 1. It is now owned by Ray McLennan and will soon be called Mr. Video Gas-n-Go.
McLennan has received a new tobacco licence for the location.
“For us, we’re a new tobacco licence so we get a fresh start,” he said in an interview this morning.
All of his employees are trained in the sale of tobacco products and have to sign an employment agreement stating they have been trained and understand they cannot sell tobacco to people under 18.
“Our company policy is no I.D., no sale,” he said. “It’s one of those things that I stress to my staff all the time, that it’s not a joke. You know, it is a federal offence... And I constantly hound.
“I would sooner lose the sale than incur a fine.”
http://www.whitehorsestar.com/auth.php?r=39320
Cigarette Seizure in Sudbury area -ON
SUDBURY, ON, Aug. 29 /CNW/ - On Friday August 26th, 2005, the Sudbury Federal Enforcement Unit conducted a search warrant at a residence located in Chelmsford, Ontario.
A large quantity of cigarettes (Sago, DK, Golden Leaf and Putters) valued at over $8500 were seized at the residence along with $11364.00 in cash.
Réjean Devost and Rachel Devost of Charette Ave, Chelmsford, Ont., have been charged under the Excise Act. Their first court appearance is scheduled for Oct 13, 2005 at the Sudbury Court house on Elm Street.
"This was a substantial seizure in the Greater Sudbury area. The investigation provided valuable information in identifying one of the supply routes for cigarettes destined for Sudbury." stated S/Sgt Claude Faucher, NCO i/c of RCMP Sudbury Detachment. "Individuals who think that they are saving money by purchasing products without paying applicable taxes are not really.
At the end of the day, we all end up by paying extra." Photos of the seizure can be found at :
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/on/press/2005/2005_aug_29pix_e.htm
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/29/c3923.html
School smoking ban narrowly defeated -MB
By Nick Martin Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
WINNIPEG School Division trustees narrowly defeated a bid by trustee Rita Hildahl last night to ban smoking everywhere in the province's largest school division.
Amid personal sniping and trustees glaring at each other across the floor of the chamber, the school board voted 5-4 to continue to allow high schools to designate an outdoor smoking area in the 2006-2007 school year.
"Five-to-four is better than eight-to-one," shrugged a disconsolate Hildahl after an hour-long and occasionally rancorous debate.
Hildahl wanted the total ban to take effect one year from now.
Only Churchill High School and Ecole Churchill have a total ban -- every other high school allows students and staff to smoke on areas of the school grounds.
"It can be perceived as a tacit approval of smoking," said Hildahl, who argued that it is a contradiction to guarantee students a smoke-free environment in division policy, yet set aside smoking areas.
Hildahl said it should be a teacher's duty to stop students from smoking, and protect others from seeing their peers or teachers smoke, just as a teacher would have a duty to intercede in a bullying incident.
"They must intercede if they see students are harming each other. In the case of smoking, they have the responsibility to protect students from harming themselves," she said.
Trustee Roman Yereniuk was miffed that Hildahl had granted an interview to the Free Press on Sunday, before the board's debate.
"Trustee Hildahl, working with the press, has gone public with this issue. The press should come after we deal with this issue," said Yereniuk.
Trustee Kristine Barr applauded Hildahl -- she pointed out that waiting a year would give plenty of time to prepare schools for an outright ban.
But after emphasizing that no one on the board favours smoking, other trustees said they respect the right of schools to decide.
Trustee Liz Ambrose said that the division allowed schools to decide for themselves, after extensive consultation two years ago among schools and their local communities. "I don't think we can negate all of that" just because one trustee will not accept previous majority decisions, Ambrose said.
She said that banning smoking would shift litter problems onto neighbouring properties.
"Winnipeg School Division is a mightily diverse place. Why on this one issue would we presume we can impose a one-size-fits-all policy?" asked trustee Lori Johnson, who said an 'I know what's good for you' approach does not work.
Instead, she favours smoking cessation programs, rather than "impose one more barrier that may be a deterrent to school attendance" for some students.
If trustees ban smoking, what will be next? Students' choice of clothing? Music? challenged trustee John Orlikow. "It goes fundamentally against the student's right to be in school," he said.
Voting for the outright ban were Hildahl, Barr, Yereniuk and Mike Babinsky.
"Some people like smoking on the property, and some don't," said Babinsky.
That brought angry responses from Johnson and Orlikow that they don't like smoking, and didn't appreciate being categorized that way.
Supporting the right of each high school to decide on a designated smoking area were Ambrose, Johnson, Orlikow, chair Joyce Bateman, and Florencio Antonio.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Non-smokers can avoid smoking establishments -ON
Letter August 30, 2005
Further to Pam Arquette's letter of Aug. 25, I can only try to refute some of her narrow-minded statements.
She is sick of reading letters trying to justify smoking. Bottom line: Smoking kills. No argument there, we all know it eventually does. The jury is still out whether or not second-hand smoke does. Bottom line: There is no conclusive proof that it does unless you believe the junk science the anti-smoking lobby is throwing about.
She says it is not our right to subject her or her children to second-hand smoke. Bottom line: No one wants to do that and with designated smoking rooms she and her children will not be subjected to what she refers to as a "disgusting habit."
She says she has a choice whether or not to enter an establishment which allows smoking. Bottom line: She is absolutely right. This is what our veterans fought for, the right to choose.
She says she avoids smoking establishments at all costs. Bottom line: Good for her. There are numerous non-smoking establishments around so that she and her children need not be subjected to any second-hand smoke.
She says the person working in a smoking establishment has no choice whether they work there or not. Bottom line: Yes they do. Our veterans fought for democracy and freedom. No one is holding a gun to those people's heads and making them work there.
She says smokers tell her if she doesn't like smoke, don't go out and eat and enjoy a few drinks. Bottom line: She is still free to go to these non-smoking establishments to eat and drink. As she avoids smoking establishments at all costs, why is this an issue?
Klaus Winter Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=ced7371c-b649-4232-95a0-97262628e97d
Employees make decision about work environments -ON
Letter Tuesday, August 30, 2005
In response to Pam Arquette's letter, she states that the person that works in smoking establishments - to try and support their family - doesn't have the choice in avoiding second-hand smoke while at work.
Being one such employee and a lifetime non-smoker, I disagree wholeheartedly with the thought that I have no choice. I made the choice to work in a smoking environment years ago and continue to make the same choice each day before I go into work. Now, the government is overriding my decision. What I mean is that once the smoking ban goes into effect, the amount of business will drop dramatically at my workplace, which means fewer workers will be needed, and that spells layoffs. Not to mention that workers who rely on gratuities can expect a serious drop in the amount of money earned on a daily basis.
So, please don't begin to tell my I have no choice. I do, for now. Oh, and my thanks to the big-headed politicians that think adults can't make choices for themselves.
Paulette Gaughan Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=d5fb791b-cd9f-49c4-b2aa-b00bbf84ddda
Smoker's rights group hosting hearing: Mychoice.Ca to Allow Puffers to Vent September 8 -ON
The Sarnia Observer - August 26, 2005 by Cathy Dobson
A year after Lambton adopted a smoking ban in all public and work places, a national smoker's rights group funded by the tobacco industry wants to know how it's working out.
Mychoice.ca is holding a public hearing at the Holiday Inn on Sept. 8.
"We've had lots of feedback from bar owners, restaurant owners and smokers in your area already," said spokeswoman Nancy Daigneault from Mychoice.ca headquarters in Toronto. A "good number" of her organization's 23,000 members are from Sarnia-Lambton, she said.
As the province prepares to impose its new no-smoking legislation known as Bill 164 next May, Mychoice.ca is attempting to get more input from Ontario residents.
The government already held three hearings across Ontario to collect comment last year but did not have any in smaller centres, according to Daigneault.
Toby Barrett, MPP from Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant where large amounts of tobacco are grown, will facilitate the local hearing.
"Unlike the Liberal government, these hearings will not shut people out," said Barrett.
Although Bill 164 is passed, it's still possible for the public to influence the regulations attached to it or pressure the government for an amendment, Daigneault said.
A Mychoice.ca hearing was already held in Windsor but an all-out smoking ban has not been imposed by the municipality there. For instance, the local council allows smoking rooms in bars, bingo halls and other adult-oriented facilities. The Windsor hearing attracted bingo owners, the charities that operate the bingos and some anti-smoking groups.
Daigneault said she is particularly interested in comment from Sarnians because of the ban here.
"Sarnia is a border community that could have provided the government with valuable information on the impacts to total smoking bans," she said.
"It's never too late to get your voice heard. When people are vocal, governments sometimes listen."
Mychoice.ca intends to continue the hearings but has not announced what other communities will be invited to participate.
Comment will be collected for a report that will be forwarded to Queen's Park, Daigneault said.
Anyone wishing to participate in the Sarnia hearing should call 905-713-2811 to be included on the list of speakers. A time for the hearing will be announced shortly.
http://mychoice.ca/display_page.asp?page_id=438
(concerning death of neighbour of high school)
Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School Council Minutes
e) October 28th Incident between PCVS student and neighbour, Mr Ross Dix: Some detail surrounding the situation was shared by Ms. Simpson within the bounds of legal restrictions. The shock, grief and regret at the death of Mr. Dix was deeply felt throughout the school. The student in question has been dealt with in a compassionate, careful fashion, continuing his studies under suspension at home. Legal process is underway. School and Board response is pretty clearly laid out and is proceeding. Ms. Simpson endured some nasty responses from members of the public and some hurtful misrepresentations by the press. Meetings have been held with the group of students who frequent the smoking area near where the incident occurred.. They have given their feedback Smokers have been relocated to the McDonnel Street side of the building on the school walkway. Staff appear very discouraged by the incident, of course, but also by the press coverage and issues that have surfaced since. A Community Forum has been scheduled for Monday, November 22, 7:30- 9:00 pm in the PCVS auditorium. Panel to consist of Rev. Murray Lincoln, Anita Simpson (PCVS Principal), David Higgs (student trustee) , Lisa Roddie (YMCA) , Deputy Police Chief Jack MacNammara, Mr. George Butt (senior from community), Rusty Hick (KPRSB Superintendent), Rose Kitney (School Board Trustee), Angela Lloyd (School Board Chair) and one member of the PCVS School Council Dave Moon offered to fill the last spot and this seemed acceptable. Big questions now are: What role can school council play in the follow up to this sad occurrence. Discussion ensued about the value and delivery of Anger management education and Character education as it relates to incidents such as this. Currently, "at risk " students are identified at staff meetings. Counselling and intervention is pursued where appropriate. Programmes are available through outside agencies and referrals can be made. Peaceful Communities web site was mentioned as a good resource.
http://www.pcvs.ca/curric/group1/Nov2004.html
c) Community Relations Committee:
- Smoking Area: Much discussion about the location of the smoking area. There were many proposals submitted, none of which could be supported by the City. It appears that the McDonnell street sidewalk (city property) will be widened over the summer, to ensure that pedestrians can still pass people who may be smoking on the sidewalk.
http://www.pcvs.ca/curric/group1/Feb2005.html Posted at 2:30 pm by looped_ca
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Pity poor big tobacco
STEVE MAICH July 12, 2005
Cigarette makers are an easy target. But these lawsuits are still wrong.
There is no industry so reviled in North America as tobacco. The oil barons? The global mining conglomerates? The multinational banking cartels? They all look positively cuddly when compared to the guys in the cancer stick business. The industry is now practically synonymous with corporate misconduct. Not only do tobacco companies peddle a dangerous product, they've known about the risks for decades. Not only did they refuse to make smoking safer, they seem to have made it more dangerous and addictive for the sake of higher profits. Now and forever, tobacco wears the scarlet letter of ugly capitalism.
No surprise then, that when the industry trudged off to the Supreme Court of Canada a few weeks back, in a fight against the province of British Columbia, there was little sympathy for Big Tobacco. At issue is B.C.'s attempt to sue three major cigarette makers to recoup an estimated $10 billion in health care costs to treat smokers. The province says the industry's past misconduct makes it liable for costs to the system.
The B.C. law allowing tobacco suits was passed in 2000, declared unconstitutional by a provincial court in 2003, and reinstated by the B.C. Court of Appeal last year. Now it's up to the country's highest court, and there's an awful lot riding on its verdict. Newfoundland has already passed a copycat law, and every other province except Prince Edward Island has lined up in support of B.C.'s case. If the cigarette makers lose this appeal, the legal floodgates will open across the country.
So far, it's not looking good. The justices peppered industry lawyers with questions throughout their presentation, but let the government present its case almost uninterrupted. For the court, the easiest choice is to let the lawsuits go ahead, and that's likely what will happen. The justices will step aside, the government will gleefully raid the tobacco coffers again, and the public will be comforted by the idea that what's bad for cigarette makers must be good for the rest of us.
It'll be a real shame.
B.C. and the other provinces defend their lawsuits on the grounds that they're defending public health, but really they're chasing a court-ordered jackpot. In 1998, they watched as Big Tobacco agreed to pay US$246 billion over 27 years to 47 U.S. states, to compensate for years of misleading claims about the health risks associated with smoking. B.C. lawmakers took one look at that settlement and saw a potential solution for the government's chronic money troubles.
What the provinces conveniently ignore is the fact that Canada began extracting billions from the tobacco industry long before the U.S. did. While the Americans relied on slow and costly litigation, Canada opted for a more elegant approach: punitive taxation. According to a 2002 study, almost 72 per cent of the cost of a carton of cigarettes in Canada goes to various taxes. In the U.S., the tax portion ranged between 17 and 38 per cent, depending on the state. Most Canadians support these taxes because of the habit's obvious social costs. But by pouring litigation on top of taxation, governments are demanding the industry and its consumers pay twice for their freedom to puff.
This naked money grab is justified by one central myth: that the industry gets a free ride on public health care. The facts say otherwise. A 2000 study estimated that Canada's direct health care costs due to tobacco are about $2.68 billion a year. A similar 1991 federal government study reached roughly the same conclusion. By comparison, the federal and provincial governments reaped about $7.69 billion in tobacco taxes last year, up 57 per cent from a decade earlier. Some free ride. If anything, smokers help subsidize health care for the rest of us.
So, if the government is so desperate to wring more money out of smokers, why don't they just raise taxes again? Well, because governments learned in the early '90s that when taxes get too high, smugglers start doing big business. It's actually possible to raise taxes to the point that government ends up with less revenue.
Rather than risk it, B.C. wrote a law that virtually guarantees a windfall at the expense of consumers and shareholders. The province doesn't need to prove that any particular person's illness was caused by tobacco. It doesn't even have to itemize the cost to the medical system of treating any specific patients. Government simply estimates its costs, and demands restitution. In Vegas, that would be called a rigged game.
Business leaders have been all but silent on this so far -- nobody wants to stand up for the cancer industry. But all those executives might want to think hard about the implications should Big Tobacco lose this fight. Are they ready to accept a future in which car companies are held liable for smog-related health problems? Are fast-food chains ready to pay for heart and weight-related ailments? Are liquor companies prepared to fund liver transplants for their best customers? Tobacco isn't the only legal product known to cause health problems, and you don't have to be a legal scholar to see the logical extensions of such a precedent.
Cigarette makers are easy targets. We've gotten so used to casting them as villains and ourselves as helpless victims that we've created a legal double standard for this one, nasty business. But that's the tough thing about law: a travesty is still a travesty, even when you don't like the defendant.
http://www.macleans.ca/switchboard/columnists/article.jsp?content=20050718_109113_109113
Anti-smoking crusade needs to cool it a bit -BC
The Province Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Few people now dispute the fact that smoking tobacco is harmful to those who do it -- and to those who happen to be nearby them when they do.
However, the proposal by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to ban smoking on restaurant patios, at beaches and in other public places is much too restrictive.
Ours is a society that prides itself on our ability to tolerate minorities. Then, why can't we tolerate the minority of people who use what is, after all, a legal product?
As Barwatch chairman John Teti notes: "We're providing a space for people to use heroin, but we can't have a place for people to smoke cigarettes."
Vancouver bar and restaurant owners have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to accommodate the last round of non-smoking legislation.
From now on, let them decide how best to run their premises. And let the rest of us just take a deep breath.
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=b525f9eb-406c-4307-b181-3ca424299658
Manitoba fines are going up
Friday August 12, 2005
Altona Red River Valley Echo — The provincial government claims public health and safety will be enhanced with several new regulations including new set fines for violating display, advertising and promotion provisions under the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act.
Fines from $235 to $535 for individuals and $385 to $1,035 for businesses have been established for displaying, advertising or promoting tobacco or tobacco-related products under the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act (NSHPA). Additional fines starting at $2,035 for a first offence have been established for corporations advertising or promoting tobacco or tobacco-related products.
Effective Aug. 15, retailers will need to ensure tobacco displays and signage are consistent with provisions under the NSHPA which prohibit retailers from displaying, advertising and promoting tobacco products in any place where children are allowed. The purpose of the act is to help
reduce tobacco use among children and help prevent them from starting to smoke.
To view the regulations, visit http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/statpub/.
http://www.altonaecho.com/story.php?id=178190
Ban keeps people from getting help. -BC
Quitting crystal meth or other street drugs is tough enough, but simultaneously giving up smoking is too much for some Vancouver Island teens.
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1965
New AADAC staff understands addicts -AB
Ed Moore Leader staff Monday August 15, 2005
Two new Edson AADAC employees will try their best to snuff out drugs and tobacco.
AADAC didn’t have to go too far to find their new staffers, as Heather McFadzen, the new addictions counsellor and Bonnie Randall, the half-time tobacco reduction counsellor, just worked down the hall, at the Child and Family Services office, as child protection workers.
The women, who both have 20 years experience between them in child welfare and protection, welcome the change and are excited about their new positions.
As far as AADAC Edson office supervisor Edith Zuidhof-Knoop is concerned, it’s a perfect fit.
“From AADAC’s perspective we’re really happy to be able to tap into their knowledge of resources in the community. They’re both in the learning phase but they bring a strong set of personal skills.”
On the job
McFadzen’s first day was Aug. 2, while Randall’s was last Monday.
Randall figures the battle against smoking cessation is being won.
“There’s definitely steps being made. Just look at the restaurants in town.”
Over the last two years most Edson and area restaurants have decided to go smoke-free and the trend continues.
McFadzen will split her time between counselling and education.
Both will make an appearance at the Edson and District Drug Coalition booth at this week’s Edson and District Chamber of Commerce Sidewalk Jamboree.
Both have been touched personally by tobacco or alcohol use in their respective families.
Personally affected
“My mother had a stroke due to the fact that she was a heavy smoker,” said Randall, who was once a smoker herself, but quit eight years ago.
McFadzen was affected by addictions use within her family.
Being affected personally by alcohol or drugs will help to reinforce and strengthen her new personnel’s beliefs and the ways they can help other people, said Zuidhof-Knoop.
“It creates empathy and gives understanding.”
Both McFadzen and Randall are pleased that they’re working with people who are willing to make changes in their lives.
New AADAC staff understands addicts
Youths to tackle smokers -ON
By Carl Clutchey - The Chronicle-Journal August 16, 2005
Can teens convince other teens that smoking isn’t cool?
Thunder Bay District Health Unit is going to spend nearly $400,000 trying to find out with a Youth Adviser program that kicks off this fall in Thunder Bay, Marathon and Geraldton.
“By getting youths talking to youths, we’re going to try to change their attitudes and perceptions about smoking,” Ken Ranta, manager of the health unit’s tobacco control unit, said Monday.
Under the program, full-time youth advisers are to supervise a network of “peer leaders” — selected teens who demonstrate the skills to form and lead small focus groups.
The funding will pay for the salaries of four adult supervisors as well as support materials.
Though smoking has been on the decline among Canadians for 30 years, Ranta said, the downward trend is not as strong among young people.
And Northwestern Ontario continues to be home to a higher percentage of smokers compared to the rest of the province, he added.
Ranta said it will be up to the focus groups to decide how they want to function, but they’ll be encouraged to operate informally and not tout any particular quitting method.
“We’re not going to be the tobacco police and say, ‘You should quit,’ and hand out business cards.’’
Peer leaders, who will receive about $10 per hour, are to be 16-20 years old, Ranta said.
Though the groups will devise their own ways of approaching people about quitting smoking, any strategies they embark on will first be reviewed by adult advisers and public health nurses.
“We don’t have medical training, but we can communicate the dangers of smoking,” Ranta said. “This is about changing attitudes.”
The program was made possible by extra funding from the Ministry of Health.
Ranta, who believes it’s modeled on a similar program in the United States, said it’s to run indefinitely.
Of the four advisers to be hired, one is to concentrate on aboriginal communities.
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=28499
Businesses plead guilty to violating smoking bylaw -ON
By Brian Cleeve Wednesday August 17, 2005
Representatives of two Chatham businesses have pleaded guilty to violating the municipal smoking bylaw.
JR’s Tavern and Olympic Billiards and Pro Shop Inc., were scheduled for trial in provincial offences court last Thursday and Friday, but a deal was reached in court Thursday.
JR’s and its owner will have 30 days to pay almost $2,000 in fines in connection to incidents dating back to 2003.
Deb King of Olympic was fined $255, while the company was levied a fine of $1,530 relating to a number of charges.
Jim Wickett, who prosecuted both companies on behalf of Chatham-Kent, withdrew a number of charges as part of the deal.
At Wickett’s request, orders were issued against both companies prohibiting them from committing the offences again.
Wickett explains that if they violate that order, they could face the maximum fine of up to $5,000.
Wickett told the court that on five separate occasions between Nov. 13, 2003 and Dec. 1, 2004, bylaw enforcement officers had caught people smoking at JR’s on Queen Street in Chatham.
A joint submission by Wickett and Mathew Juba, lawyer for JR’s and its owner Nick Pelekis, called for the $2,000 fine.
King, who represented herself, pleaded guilty in connection with a charge in December 2003. She also pleaded guilty as proprietor of the company to offences between Dec. 19, 2003 and Sept. 4, 2004.
Charges against her husband Greg King, who died June 1, and other charges against the company, were withdrawn at the request of Wickett.
Wickett says there are other charges to be dealt with in October concerning businesses in Blenheim and Ridge-town.
Charges against Papa Luigi’s in Chat-ham and Blenheim and the Cadillac Hotel in Blenheim, were to be dealt with on Tuesday (Aug. 16).
Wickett says the convictions last week help the municipality gain “compliance with the bylaw.”
“A fine of $2,000 should act as a deterrent,” says Wickett. “We’re not out to put anyone out of business.”
The smoking bylaw was passed in October 2002 but wasn’t enforced until the summer of 2003.
A number of people have already pleaded guilty to charges of allowing smoking on their premises, and paid the minimum fines of $255.
King said outside the court that she pleaded guilty because she “just wanted this over with.”
The issue of the violation of the smoking violations has been in the courts for at least 18 months.
Greg Elliott, Juba’s partner and former lawyer for King and a number of other accused, had argued originally that the municipality didn’t have the right to pass legislation dealing with health.
Matters had been delayed while a constitutional challenge was carried out in Toronto.
Elliott had also argued it was unfair that the municipality, not the proprietor of a business, should be enforcing the bylaw.
http://www.chathamthisweek.com/index.php?id=227
Retailers reminded that it’s illegal to sell tobacco to kids under 19-ON
By Larissa Barlow Wednesday August 17, 2005
The smoking rate in Canada has dropped to 20 per cent, down from 21 per cent in 2003 and 24 per cent in 2000 Statistics Canada reported, but work is still being done locally to combat smoking rates.
The Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit is participating in the Not To Kids campaign, that targets retailers -- reminding them that it’s illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under 19.
The campaign also focuses members of the community that might supply cigarettes to teens by buying the tobacco for them.
“What happens is you or I could go to a store and a kid outside could ask you to buy cigarettes for them,” said health educator Michelle Bogaert. “The message we want to give is that it’s illegal to sell and supply to teens.”
Helping in promoting this program is Chatham Cinema 6, which is playing a Not To Kids: Think About It advertisement throughout August.
Theatre staff members are also wearing Not To Kids T-shirts and are supplying customers with information material.
Bogaert said new tobacco legislation coming into effect in Ontario in May 2006 will make the sale of cigarettes to teens much more restrictive. But she notes that Chatham-Kent’s existing bylaws are already strong in this regard.
She said because of this, the municipality will hire test shoppers to try and buy cigarettes from local retailers to determine if they’ll sell to someone under 19.
“For the most part, when someone is not compliant (with the law) we discuss the issue with them and they’re very appreciative of us bringing it up to them,” she said.
Chatham-Kent’s retailer compliance rate is about 95 per cent, compared to the provincial average of 85 per cent.
The Public Health Unit is also looking into other campaigns to inform teens about smoking, including putting up signs in arenas throughout the municipality and hosting another teen tobacco summit
Retailers reminded that it’s illegal to sell tobacco to kids under 19
Cigarettes covered up at stores -MB
BY JENNIFER ASHDOWN Wednesday August 17, 2005
Provincial legislation now in effect to hide tobacco products from youthful eyes
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Portage la Prairie retailers are reluctantly obeying legislation which requires them to hide tobacco products from minors.
“I don’t think it’s really fair,” said Ida Miller, owner of Northside Market on Eighth Street N.W.
On Monday, the province began to enforce provisions in Non-Smokers Health Protection Act (NSHPA) which require retailers to hide tobacco product displays. The legislation also places restrictions on signs displaying tobacco prices. The legislation is intended to help prevent youngsters from becoming smokers.
The act was passed in January of 2004, but the province waited for results of a legal challenge to a similar law in Saskatchewan and had consultations with retailers before moving to enforce it.
Last week, Miller erected a blue cover in front of her store’s tobacco products. She uses tiny, yellow circular stickers on the cover to indicate where the brands are located.
Unlike some of her peers who paid for curtains and cupboards, Miller received a cover from a tobacco company to conceal the cigarette display.
She declined to disclose the name of the tobacco company, but said her store received the cover because of the volume of cigarettes it sells.
Mike Stiegler, owner of Mike’s 5th Avenue Grocery, is waiting for a $300 vertical blinds he ordered to conceal the store’s cigarettes. In the meantime, he’s hiding his tobacco products behind a brown security enclosure he uses to lock up products after hours.
“I think that’s an awful lot when it’s just a straight loss for me, really,” said Stiegler of the blinds which he suspects will hurt the store’s sales.
Stiegler’s employee, Alice Unrau, said the enclosure has caused a number of customers to wonder if the store sells cigarettes at all.
“They see the blinds and look at it and they figure, ‘Oh, we can’t sell cigarettes anymore?’”
The director of provincial affairs for Canadian Federation of Independent Business said NSHPA is placing an unfair burden on small business owners. What’s more, it doesn’t make sense.
“It’s typical government hypocrisy,” said Shannon Martin. “You’ve got a government that advertises gambling and advertises liquor and yet forgets tobacco is a legal product.”
The executive director of Manitoba Tobacco Reduction Alliance says NSHPA will reduce the number of Manitoba smokers with the help of existing measures such as using the media to educate consumers about the effects of tobacco. This is a chance for retailers to help ensure young people don’t smoke, Murray Gibson said.
“I think if we’re going to have an impact on tobacco use, it’s going to be society at large that has to each individually do their part,” he said.
Provincial Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald defended the legislation, citing a recent Health Canada survey which found the number of young smokers in Manitoba has dropped. The survey found smokers in Manitoba aged 15 to 19 dropped from 29 per cent in 1999 to 21 per cent in 2004.
The eight-point drop means the province, which had the highest percentage of young smokers a few years ago, is now the province with the second lowest percentage, said Oswald, proving its efforts to discourage youths from smoking are working.
“There are people who say to me, perhaps in jest, why do you think that hiding cigarettes will make any difference?” she said. “Well, the fact is that any one of these initiatives on their own may not. But together, we are making a difference and the numbers prove it.”
http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/story.php?id=179189
Smoker-friendly casino set to open -MB
Broadcast News Wednesday, August 17, 2005
ROSEAU RIVER, Manitoba -- A Manitoba native reserve is set to open a new gambling hall that is smoker-friendly.
The Roseau River First Nation will open its $1 million operation Friday
It's hoping to lure gamblers from as far away as Winnipeg, 100 kilometres to the north.
Chief Terrance Nelson says the reserve is taking advantage of the fact that the province's anti-smoking law does not apply to native reserves.
Nelson says there are plans to offer bus rides to Winnipeg residents who want to smoke while they gamble.
The centre will include bingo halls and 20 video lottery terminals to start, but Nelson says he's hoping for an expansion in the near future.
http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=65001bec-e838-4a38-92b9-1c1b2860f6c6
Emphasis on smoking minimizes other issues -ON
Letter August 17, 2005
Re: The Deadly Impact Of Smoking, letters, Aug. 13. I thought the backbone of a true democracy was a media that reports on issues with fairness and without bias.
If this is the case, then why does the GLOBALink News and Information Service have a tobacco control editor and co-editor?
The letter goes on to state: "Both men (Peter Gzowski and Peter Jennings), however, unwittingly and tragically became part of the great under-reported story of our day." You've got to be kidding. Is there a person on this continent that would agree with that statement?
In a related article, you reported that 67 per cent of the population are against banning smoking in bars. If this is a democracy, then why are we passing this law? How much are we going to spend trying to convince the 67 per cent that they are wrong and are we convincing them or brainwashing them?
Why isn't the fact that 27,000 children starve to death on this planet every day, that our nuclear waste will be radioactive for 10,000 years or the fact that there are enough weapons on this planet to destroy every living thing (a reality only a few countries are willing to face) ever make it to the front page or even the letter of the day?
The answer to this question is, because there isn't any money in it. Do we really still live in a democracy? Or have we let it slip away, one law at a time?
Douglas Davis Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=bbc16590-3d5d-45c3-9e58-4a387e8b3476
Smoking ban diminishes democracy in Ontario -ON
Letter Thursday, August 18, 2005
Kudos to Lynda Duguay and James H. Dunbar for some well-written letters. They, like any thinking individual, do not swallow the pap the anti-smoking lobbyists dish out.
There has never been a definitive study showing second-hand smoke causes all the damage it is accused of. If it is so horrendous, why, when asked, can no one name three people who have contracted lung cancer from second-hand smoke?
Even the EPA and the WHO are backpedalling from their so-called studies that showed this to be true as they have been caught up in their own lies of forcing conclusions to fit what they wanted to hear.
A basic question would be that if second-hand smoke was so addictive, why aren't more people addicted? The answer simply belies the anti-smoking propaganda.
As reported in The Windsor Star, the Lung Association estimates that 7,500 Ontarians will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
While it does not say these cases will be from smoking or second-hand smoke, it is a far cry from the 17,500 that Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Smitherman would have us believe. In all of Canada there were only 21,700 diagnoses in 2004, again not all from smoking or second-hand smoke. And not all died.
What does this tell you about the anti-smoking lobby?
What does this tell you about Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Smitherman?
A great deal has been made about Ernest "Smoky" Smith, an icon to Canada as he was the last surviving recipient of the Victoria Cross. A true hero, but no more a hero than any of the veterans who fought for our freedom. And they fought for our freedom of choice.
Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Smitherman would spit on them and tell them they can no longer smoke in their own private legion halls.
Ontario's democracy is spelled d-i-c-t-a-t-o-r-s-h-i-p. As my husband said, If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read it in English, thank a vet.
Jean Winter Windsor
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=54705006-d22b-4a21-9c78-7ad3c4e257cc
Countdown on for tobacco queen contest -ON
Vicki Hartlen - Delhi News-Record Thursday August 18, 2005
This year’s tobacco queen competition is “shaping up nicely” says organizer Susie Huyge.
“So far everything is going great this year,” said Huyge. “Everything is falling into place nicely.”
Huyge has organized the tobacco queen contest for more than 10 years and said she has already had an interest shown this year.
Last year there were so few applicants for the contest Huyge was forced to delay the deadline for competitors.
“We’re not going to have to do that this year,” said Huyge.
Single women 18 years and older, who are from a tobacco community, are invited to compete.
“Contrary to what people think, (prospective competitors) have to know that they don’t have to come from a tobacco farm,” she said. “As long as you’re from a tobacco community or area, that is sufficient.”
While some awareness of tobacco is preferred, Huyge said most tobacco community residents have knowledge of the crop.
Advertisements have already been posted in many publications for the contest, which advises an Aug. 25 deadline.
“I don’t know why some girls wait until the bitter end to get their registrations in, but the sooner the better,” said Huyge.
Once an applicant enters, Huyge said they are given a questionnaire to fill and are asked to provide more details.
“It’s just so much better for them to get applications in early so there’s more time for them to go over the information,” she said.
Competition will begin Sept. 7 with the preliminary judging, which accounts for 40 per cent of their final mark. Final judging will be held during the Harvestfest Wine & Cheese Opening ceremonies, set for Sept. 14 at the Delhi German Hall.
“Win, lose or draw this is a wonderful opportunity for local area girls to meet other girls with similar interests and possibly be crowned tobacco queen.”
The tobacco queen and other contestants are then a part of the Harvestfest celebrations, including the parade.
“Aside from Harvestfest the tobacco queen is asked to attend many other events,” she explained. “You can talk to any former queen and they will tell you how much the experience added to their lives.”
Countdown on for tobacco queen contest
Smokers welcome at new bingo hall -MB
By Alexandra Paul Thursday, August 18th, 2005
WINNIPEG smokers will get another choice of gaming hall where they can light up as they play the odds.
A Manitoba First Nation 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg is opening a new bingo hall with 20 video display terminals -- and it's betting that giving players the freedom to smoke cigarettes will give it the edge it needs to succeed in the province's competitive gambling sector.
The Roseau River First Nation will open its bingo hall Friday, Chief Terry Nelson said yesterday.
At the grand opening, Nelson said, the community will make a firm offer to buy a parcel of land in Winnipeg with the intention of creating an urban reserve in the city.
"On Friday, chief and council will be signing the letter of offer to the city of Winnipeg for the urban reserve. That's part of the (grand opening) celebration. We are committing $2.2 million. We can sign the cheque ourselves here at Roseau River. We don't have to depend on anybody else. It's our own money," the chief said.
An urban reserve would require a First Nation to acquire a piece of land in the city and then have it designated as reserve land by the federal government. On urban reserves, First Nations can operate businesses free of many taxes and invest much of the $1.2 billion federal dollars that flow annually to reserves, not to mention settlements for treaty land entitlements and hydro agreements.
Informal discussions centre on a 30-acre parcel of land in St. Boniface that used to be a Canada Packers site. It would be Winnipeg's first urban reserve.
The Roseau River bingo hall -- with 14 full-time and part-time jobs to offer -- and the urban reserve commitment represent a fiscal turn-around for the community, which just 2 1/2 years ago was in such dire financial straits that its accounts had to be taken over by third-party management.
The reserve cut a $5-million deficit down to $400,000 by hiring a good accounting service, negotiating closely with Indian Affairs and by going on an austerity regime, Nelson said. No new houses were built and infrastructure maintenance, including road repair, was dumped to clean up the bottom line, he said.
Now with the community's books off to a clean start and the fiscal future looking up, Nelson expressed confidence in the community's financial independence.
The chief said the reserve is among a handful of First Nation communities in Manitoba that are taking advantage of the fact the province's anti-smoking laws do not apply to native reserves to make money on gambling enterprises.
Nelson said there are also plans to expand the reach of the bingo hall by offering bus service to Winnipeg smokers who want to light up as they gamble.
South Beach Casino, a gleaming 25,000 square-foot gaming facility on Brokenhead Ojibway First Nation, 45 kilometres north of Winnipeg on Hwy 59, is proving wildly successful for the seven First Nations with the South East Tribal Council that opened it this summer.
Meanwhile, smaller gaming halls are also starting to dot the landscape in southern Manitoba.
"Right now the Canupawakpa Dakota Reserve near Oak Lake, they just had a grand opening for their gaming facility and Long Plains just did one near Portage La Prairie for 600 seats. Ours is 250," Nelson said.
"The DOTC chiefs," said Nelson, referring to the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council of eight First Nations that his reserve belongs to, "as a group we see that we definitely have got to be into economic development."
Nelson said he is proud of the fact that the bingo hall at Roseau, located on Highway 201 off the main Canada-US. artery Hwy 75, was built without government funds.
"The Bank of Nova Scotia (gave us) a fairly extensive loan and we did it ourselves. There's no Indian Affairs, no government of Canada money. It's all us," Nelson said.
The facility will run seven days a week with games scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. It also hosts a restaurant, featuring snacks and meals, including hamburgers, fries, chicken and pizza.
In the mid-1990s, Nelson was arrested and charged with smuggling cigarettes and operating illegal gaming equipment. The cigarette charges were stayed, but Nelson was convicted of illegally keeping gaming devices and fined $5,000.
This time, the gaming enterprise is starting small and is being run strictly by the book, the chief said. "With a good plan, we definitely know this is viable," Nelson said.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Butt out of our homes -AB
Calgary Herald Thursday, August 18, 2005
In the zeal to address the public health threat posed by smoking, there are always a few advocates who get their priorities mixed up.
Consider Kristen Cleary, addiction therapist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Lauding a recent study on teen smoking, she said she hopes more research will encourage government to consider "smoking bans on school property, smoking in the home, doing more prevention."
That's right, banning a legal activity on one's private property.
A study in this month's Canadian Medical Association Journal found that adult smoking in the home may influence whether children smoke.
Researchers tested 191 children aged five to 12, to confirm they had been exposed to second-hand smoke, then checked back a few years later to see whether they started smoking: 84 out of 191, or 44 per cent, had.
Only 20 said they smoked 10 cigarettes or more a week -- or 10 per cent, which is less than the general rate of smoking. Kids were asked, "Have you ever smoked as much as one cigarette a week for a month?" If researchers are going to define smoking this loosely, they should have also had a group of children who did not come from smoking homes to compare with. Since the single greatest factor influencing smoking was found to be the onset of puberty, it seems just as likely simple teenage rebellion is causing experimentation.
Although the authors say the study results must be "interpreted with caution," Cleary wants to expand government control to private homes.
How would such a ban be policed? Would the government install surveillance cameras?
Undertake random checks? Set up a neighbourhood snitch line?
Whatever legal vices a person engages in at home are none of the state's business, nor of nosy do-gooders.
Advocacy groups should concentrate on convincing people to quit smoking, not asking government to strip away cherished freedoms
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=9174dd97-02f8-4faa-9530-a456d548f719
New program targets youth tobacco use
PROGRAM: A part of Smoke-Free Ontario
Nancy Boutin - Staff Writer Friday August 19, 2005
The Tillsonburg News — A new initiative is targeting Oxford’s young smokers.
Called the Youth Action Alliance, the program is part of the Smoke-Free Ontario initiative, and will see a team of 10 paid peer leaders, a youth advisor and volunteers working collaboratively to develop programming to help young people quit smoking, to deter youth smoking, to denormalize tobacco use, to change social norms supporting youth tobacco use, and to counter tobacco industry marketing practices.
In an area built largely by tobacco funding, you might wonder how well such a program will be received.
But Sharon Sabourin, Ontario Tobacco Strategy supervisor, said the Youth Action Alliance is different from other programs targeting youth tobacco use. Instead of launching an attack on youth who smoke, YAA focuses on finding out why young people start smoking, on understanding the mechanics of addiction, and on developing initiatives to address youth tobacco use.
“We have special sensitivity because of tobacco being grown in the area,” said Sabourin.
To that end, Sabourin said the youth leaders and volunteers will be touring an area tobacco farm in an effort to understand others’ perspectives on the tobacco industry, including the role tobacco dollars play in sending local youth to college and university.
So far, six of the program’s 10 paid youth leaders have been hired. Sabourin said others interested in applying for the positions, which will require about 10 hours of work per week - mainly on weekends and evenings - can contact her directly at 539-9800, extension 210.
Youth leaders must be between the ages of 14 and 18, have a thirst for learning and a passion about the topic at hand, and be willing to learn how to engage others. Two youth leaders are needed to represent the Tillsonburg area.
Together, the YAA team will work to develop an action plan to combat youth tobacco use, and will work collaboratively with Oxford’s Upper Deck Youth Centres, whose clients are at high risk of tobacco use. Sabourin said the plan is to co-ordinate cessation services through the Upper Deck Youth Centres, or perhaps to start a competition with prizes for youth who quit successfully.
In the fall, Sabourin hopes to communicate with school nurses throughout Oxford about the YAA program, and to pull additional youth volunteers from local school populations.
Becoming familiar to local teens will help the team as they brainstorm ways to combat youth tobacco use.
“That’s been a big challenge,” said Sabourin. “The fact is that young people think there’s no immediate effects to smoking, so therefore it’s not important. Also the fact that smoking is seen as normal.”
While getting an initiative such as this up and running is never easy, and while funding will ultimately dictate whether the program lasts past the end of the contract in December of this year, Sabourin said she's anxious to see what direction the team will take.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing the progression of understanding the students will go through,” she said. “I'd like to think that those who smoke and those who are involved in tobacco don’t want kids to start smoking. I think the program will probably be received better around here.”
For information on the Youth Action Alliance or to apply to be a paid youth leader or a volunteer, call Sabourin at 539-9800, ext. 210.
http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/story.php?id=179359
Do-gooders rejoice: you can sneer even more now -ON
HARVEY TAYLOR
(Aug 19, 2005)
Gird yourselves, my chubby friends, looks like you're next.
Remember when it was OK to be a smoker?
Sure, no one was pinning medals on them just because they liked to light up now and again, but they weren't necessarily Jack the Rippers either.
Well, I don't need to tell you those days are long gone.
Even as I type this, I worry about my personal safety, should I be mistaken for someone who has even the least smidgen of tolerance, let alone sympathy, for smokers.
Just for the record, let me make it perfectly clear that I don't need to be sent away for re-education.
Smokers are very, very, very, very bad people.
Even though some of the brightest, funniest, most interesting people I know smoke, that doesn't mean I think they should be treated with basic respect and dignity.
Just because I list one smoker -- a fabulous lady with a piercing intellect and blue eyes to match -- among a handful of those closest to my heart, doesn't mean she should be accorded common decency.
Pick on these people, I say, at every opportunity.
Sneer at them as they stand outside restaurants guiltily grabbing a puff. Cough exaggeratedly as you pass them walking their dogs in the park. Tell them they smell bad, even if they don't.
And, most importantly, blame them.
Blame them for making the rest of us sick with second-hand smoke, for making themselves sick, even, if you like, for the steady rise of tensions in the Middle East.
It's OK. Somehow all this blaming and rude behaviour is for their own good.
And pretty soon, it's going to be open season on heavy folks, too.
Of course, it's been building a long time.
Fat kids have always been teased. Fashion favours the thin. Ballpark seats are built for the narrow-hinded.
But it seems the level of hysteria has kicked up a notch over the past few years.
Few would doubt the correlation between obesity and health problems.
A wealth of statistics and studies points to a very real need to encourage folks -- children especially -- to reduce their weight by eating better and exercising more.
Now, Michael Decter, the head of the Health Council of Canada, is calling for a national assault on obesity similar to the anti-smoking campaigns.
When commenting this week on a study that showed overweight people were twice as likely to need joint replacement, Decter suggested it makes more sense to get people to lose weight now, rather than spend more on costly surgical procedures 10 to 20 years from now.
Hard to argue with that kind of logic. Just as it was hard to argue with the anti-smoking activists.
I just hope, this time, the do-good, anti-obesity activists manage to come up with a feel-good campaign, rather than another negative, blame-heavy one.
I don't want to reach for a bag of chips a few years from now while trying to avert my eyes from a warning label showing a graphic illustration of a joint replacement procedure.
www.therecord.com
An ode to cigarettes -AB
page 8 -August-19-2005
You know, as a non-smoker, I kind of miss smoking.
St.Albert and Edmonton have both been smoke-free for a month and a half now, and I'm noticing a lack where there wasn't one before.
I don't so much miss the haze, or the smell. Overall, the ban ought to ease our troubled healthcare system a bit, and will probably encourage non-smokers to pursue activities they couldn't reasonably pursue before, like attending bingo halls. But now, what do we blame for our troubles?
As the months pass, smoking will gradually, slowly, sink from our collective consciousness. Those of us who've lobbied a long time for this sort of change will forget about that effort, and come to expect the smoke-free nature of our community. Those of us opposed to the ban will adjust, eventually, and probably buy heavier winter coats. Fewer people will light up while they drink. Angry smokers will visit the bingo halls again. Our personal universes will align themselves in the same lopsided ways they always have.
And then trouble will strike. Something happens: maybe too many kids start doing crystal meth. Maybe drunk driving increases. Perhaps aliens will rob us of our oil and Alberta will, overnight, transform into a starving socialist state. There will be a crisis.
And we will have nothing to blame. Oh, sure. By then, whenever Then is, we will have adopted a new kind of scapegoat. Something beyond smoking that we can collectively sneer at, and hate, and use our energies to surpress and choke so that we can, together, vaguely align ourselves toward some hazy objective. Some unifying Object that will make us smile every so often at strangers. A thing to bring us together and build our society.
But until that happens, we are left with a void. Yes, there is plenty wrong with our world, plenty we can unite against and fight. But the presence that smoking filled hasn't been immediately filled.
For a time, we will feel empty. So, on behalf of the entire staff of the Saint City News, I am proposing the following. I am prosposing that, for a limited time, citizens of all ages be able to drive motor vehicles, wherever they want.
By the time the ridiculousness of that scenario fades, we will have found something new to unite against and destroy. To bring us together.
http://saintcitynews.advancedpublishing.com/
New law would allow Net spying
By Tim Naumetz Friday, August 19th, 2005
Police able to intercept e-mails, get into password-secure websites
OTTAWA -- The federal cabinet will review new legislation this fall that would give police and security agencies vast powers to begin surveillance of the Internet without court authority.
The new measures would allow law-enforcement agents to intercept personal e-mails, text messages and possibly even password-secure websites used for purchasing and financial transactions.
A law professor and privacy expert involved in consultations over the bill said a draft version of the legislation circulated earlier this year did not require court authority for police to intercept communications or demand information from Internet servers.
"I think it's the kind of legislation that is literally going to shock millions of Canadians," said University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist.
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler disclosed the plan during a speech to a conference of police boards from across the country. He told reporters he and Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan are preparing a memorandum to cabinet following months of discussions with police, privacy experts and the Internet industry.
Cotler said law-enforcement agencies have lagged behind as use of the worldwide web exploded over the past decade.
An internal briefing note for the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last February said it has become increasingly difficult for the agency to intercept communications for surveillance purposes and supported legislation to give law agencies more powers.
Cotler says the government wants to put police and security forces on a "level playing field."
"Criminals and terrorists are making use of the most sophisticated technology," said Cotler. "They have become experts, frankly, in transborder communications and transportation technology."
Cotler said the government is aware of objections around the impact on privacy as well as the affect the surveillance could have on the legal rights of citizens. Under current law, it is illegal to intercept and open letter mail, but it is unclear whether e-mails are in the same legal category.
The Defence Department's Communications Security Establishment has the ability to intercept all telephone communications within Canada and calls across the border, but must obtain ministerial permission to intercept and record telephone calls in which at least one Canadian citizen is involved.
And police need court permission to eavesdrop on telephone conversations.
Conservative MP Vic Toews, while supporting expanded powers for police surveillance of the Internet, said collection and storage of information and records should not be allowed unless the agents are able to prove to a judge there is justifiable reason to intercept the communications and gather the data.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Residents miss dining and puffing -AB
Don Sinclair August 19, 2005
The Things I See, and Hear, and Think Page 9
I think people who oppose the smoking bylaw are staying away from local bars is based on fact. For example, this SCN reader had this to say after reading last week's column:
Hi Don, I read your August 12th column with interest.
As a smoker, I miss visiting my regular restaurants and bars in St.Albert, and now take my business elsewhere.
Perhaps you could suggest to your readers that there are other towns that appreciate St. Albert's smoking bylaw. Leduc, Spruce Grove, Morinville and patios in Sherwood Park all allow smoking and are enjoying an increase in business.
I think that the restaurant and bar owners in St. Albert should hold back a portion of their business taxes (relevant to lost business dollars) until this city council either comes to their senses or a new council is voted in. Robin, St. Albert, Via E-Mail.
So there you have it folks. Local businesses suffer while local residents take their cash elsewhere where laws are less repressive.
http://saintcitynews.advancedpublishing.com/
Wrong Place Wrong Time -AB
The Things Our Readers See, and Hear, and Think August 19, 2005
Reader Response On: That Smoking Bylaw Page 9
Hi Don: I just read your editorial in the SCN and I disagree with much of your argument against the smoking bylaw. I do see the difficulty many bars[and their staff] are having, however.
There are some very important points many people simply don't understand or they forget about: They are demographics and economic growth. As a food service business owner myself, I see there is a huge section of the population over the age of 55 in St.Albert getting older, along with a much younger[and much smaller] section under the age of 25.
When was the last time you saw a huge amount of people around the age of 40? That is my age and I am constantly running into people more than 10-15 years younger than me or 10-15 years older than me.
Many of those people close to my age are involved in activities that might take them away from the bar scene. Think second marriages, babies born a later age, and child- centered home lives. In 2005, it is not a hard concept. I don't think the impact you speak of has so much to do with the smoking bylaw.
I think it has to do with not as many older people drinking as much combined with not as many younger people available to spend money on drinks. Do we really need that many bars?
Add to this, the latest information from Statistics Canada, with yet more people under the age of 25 refusing to light up than ever before.
Why is it that most drugstore chains have to offer so much else to its customers? Because they are not selling as many cigarettes. My wife and I counted at least 28 sit-down restaurants in St. Albert with the capacity to serve drinks under the conditions you describe. There are far too many businesses competing for the same staff and customers in St.Albert.
The reintroduction of the "15/25-cent Chicken Wings" and loads of "Help Wanted Ads" are symptoms of the problem. Many businesses fail as a result of people not understanding the "when" of things.
When you and everyone else are born and when your business exists accounts for so much, yet many people continue to do things because "that's how it is always done". Yet they fail and do not understand why.
In my opinion, there may still be room for lounges and bars, but many are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The many customers [and staff, for that matter] are waiting for have not yet grown up to the legal age or time in their lives where they can make this a consistent activity.
Unfortunately, the result is the pressure put on those depending on this way of life for a living. Thanks for the opportunity to respond. Chad Jenkins St. Albert, Via E-Mail
Sinc Says: My bet is that there will be some restaurant owners who will disagree with you big time.
http://saintcitynews.advancedpublishing.com/
Obesity tops smoking as health issue, poll finds
Only cancer is a more worrisome problem, Canadians say
Glen McGregor The Ottawa Citizen Saturday, August 20, 2005
Canadians are becoming keenly aware of the dangers of obesity and now rank it among their most serious health concerns, a new poll shows.
The study conducted by GPC Research suggests a growing understanding of the risks of carrying extra weight and the role obesity plays in other diseases.
Cancer remains the leading health concern for Canadians, with 88 per cent of those polled ranking it as a "serious health issue," followed by obesity at 75 per cent, smoking at 74 per cent, heart disease at 72 per cent and HIV/AIDS at 55 per cent.
"If acceptance is the first step towards recovery, then Canadians are on their way to slimming down," said Jim Roche, president of GPC Research.
"This is good news."
He said the strong recognition of obesity as health issue, and not a matter of esthetics, is all the more remarkable given the long history of public education about other ailments on the list of health concerns, such as smoking.
"Whether that's now going to translate into action is the question a lot of public health officials and, frankly, a lot of Canadians should be wondering."
Dr. Beth Abramson, a Toronto cardiologist and spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, credits the public's increased awareness to education campaigns by organizations like hers and the emergence of obesity issues in the popular culture.
"It's even in mainstream entertainment and movies such as Super Size Me," she said, referring to the 2004 documentary that follows a filmmaker who eats nothing but meals from McDonald's for one month.
She called the recognition of obesity as a health problem an important step to combating an "epidemic."
A growing body of research points to obesity as a key factor in a range of deadly illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, Type-2 diabetes and cancers.
Ontario Minister of Health Promotion Jim Watson says the study shows people are seeing the evidence of the obesity problem right before their eyes.
"You can walk down any street or shopping mall and see more and more people who are obese," he said.
"And they're starting to see the impact on their own health. We don't have to go around telling people it's a problem."
He cited a recent Statistics Canada report that shows a dramatic increase in obesity levels among children over the past 25 years as well as a study released this week that suggests obesity is causing a rising level of joint problems among people who carry extra weight.
Mr. Watson is referenced in the GPC study, which reports that 69 per cent of those polled agree with his well-publicized statement that "Fat is the new tobacco."
But Canadians would still prefer that politicians like Mr. Watson mind their own waistlines. Of those polled, 65 per cent said individuals should be responsible for dealing with obesity and only 18 per cent believe governments would be effective in curbing the problem, suggesting dramatic moves like banning trans fats might not be welcomed.
"No one wants big governments telling them what they can and can't do," Mr. Watson said, but he noted that people agree with Ontario's moves to ban junk food from elementary schools and push to provide healthier school meals.
"You can't go around telling kids not to eat french fries, but at least if you give them healthy choices it's better than no choice."
Indeed, according to the GPC poll, 41 per cent believe schools and school boards should take action, and 67 per cent would like to see vending machines that sell chocolate bars, soft drinks and potato chips banned from high schools. Only 42 per cent would be willing to paying higher education taxes to make up the lost revenues caused by pulling vending out, however.
For the poll, GPC conducted phone interviews with 1,202 Canadians over five days this month. The poll is considered accurate within 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
It also shows some regional difference in Canadians' attitudes toward healthy living. People in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes are more likely to go on a diet to lose weight than exercise, but those in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. believe exercise is just as important as diet.
Women are more likely than men to favour dieting, with 59 per cent rating it as the most important factor in a healthy lifestyle, while 49 per cent of men said exercise was most important.
Concern about obesity was the highest in Atlantic provinces, where it is also the most common. Eighty-two per cent of Atlantic Canadians called it a serious issue, compared to 80 per cent in Alberta, 78 per cent in Ontario, 72 per cent in Quebec and 71 per cent in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C.
Canadians may understand the risks of obesity, but the population is still becoming fatter. The Statistics Canada study released this summer found that 23 per cent of Canadian adults -- about 5.5 million people -- were considered obese in 2005, up from 14 per cent in 1978-79.
Children are also getting fatter, with eight per cent considered obese in 2004 compared to just three per cent 25 years ago.
Anyone with a body-mass index of 25 or higher is considered overweight and above 30 is obese. BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in metres. Using this formula, a 5-foot-11 male (1.8 metres) would be considered overweight at 179 pounds (81 kilograms) or more and obese at 215 pounds (97.5 kilograms).
Obesity rates are still lower in Canada than in the U.S., where 64 per cent of adult are overweight or obese, according to the American Obesity Association. Obesity claims 300,000 lives in the U.S. every year, and costs the U.S. health-care system $100 billion, the AOA estimates.
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=d712ad17-bf72-4899-82ac-d9956935496d
Bylaw creating clouds of smoke on the streets
I hope all the anti-smoking people are happy. So, now instead of having a smoking area or have smoking just in adult-only places they are forced to smoke outside.
I recently went to a restaurant and had to wade through a large group of people in a cloud of smoke just to get to the entrance. I found myself feeling annoyed and glad I wasn’t the family of seven doing the same thing. Before people could make a choice to be around smoke or not. Now, it’s everywhere. Walk down Whyte Ave. at the end of the night or any bar for that matter and see the garbage left behind.
The streets are now littered with butts and empty packages. So now what is the solution.
Patricia Russell, St. Albert
http://www.stalbertgazette.com/news/2005/0820/letters.htm
Injustice continues -MB
By TOM BRODBECK August 20, 2005
Public Trustee keeps grip on veteran's private affairs
It's been almost three months since the government took over the life of Thomas Hanaway, 80, and there's still no sign it's prepared to give the Second World War veteran his freedom back.
Manitoba's Public Trustee, who took over Hanaway's life on June 6, continues to confiscate Hanaway's pension cheques, open his mail and pay his bills.
Hanaway, who lives with his wife and son in the North End home where he was born, is not allowed out of the city without permission from the Public Trustee.
And if he requires any medical attention, it must be approved by the Public Trustee.
"This is bullshit," said a frustrated Thomas Hanaway, whom I visited yesterday. "This is causing a lot of hardship around here."
No doubt. How would you like to have your life taken over by the government and told whether you can leave town?
How would you like the government to confiscate your mail and open it?
SEIZING AND OPENING MAIL
It even seizes copies of Hanaway's Legion magazine, which he gets in the mail.
His son, Tom Hanaway Jr., has to drive to the Public Trustee office downtown to pick up the mail when they call.
And because he has the same name as his father, it's been seizing and opening his mail, too.
"What they can do is just unreal," said Grace Hanaway. "I don't know where all this is going to end up."
Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said on June 30 that the Hanaway case would be reviewed and completed within a month.
Nearly two months later, nothing has happened.
A letter sent to Grace Hanaway this week from deputy justice minister Bruce MacFarlane said the investigation of their case is still ongoing.
The government is alleging Hanaway's money is not being handled properly.
It's accusing the family of mismanaging his affairs, although its correspondence doesn't specifically state how.
"There is concern, as you have been told, that significant sums of money have been expended without authorization from your husband's estate," wrote MacFarlane.
What estate? Hanaway's not dead. And he shares his assets, like most married couples, with his wife.
Her money is his money, and his money is hers. They raised a family together, ran a business together and own a home together.
If the government has some allegations against the Hanaways it feels gives them the right to revoke Grac Posted at 1:10 pm by looped_ca
Injustice continues -MB
By TOM BRODBECK August 20, 2005
Public Trustee keeps grip on veteran's private affairs
It's been almost three months since the government took over the life of Thomas Hanaway, 80, and there's still no sign it's prepared to give the Second World War veteran his freedom back.
Manitoba's Public Trustee, who took over Hanaway's life on June 6, continues to confiscate Hanaway's pension cheques, open his mail and pay his bills.
Hanaway, who lives with his wife and son in the North End home where he was born, is not allowed out of the city without permission from the Public Trustee.
And if he requires any medical attention, it must be approved by the Public Trustee.
"This is bullshit," said a frustrated Thomas Hanaway, whom I visited yesterday. "This is causing a lot of hardship around here."
No doubt. How would you like to have your life taken over by the government and told whether you can leave town?
How would you like the government to confiscate your mail and open it?
SEIZING AND OPENING MAIL
It even seizes copies of Hanaway's Legion magazine, which he gets in the mail.
His son, Tom Hanaway Jr., has to drive to the Public Trustee office downtown to pick up the mail when they call.
And because he has the same name as his father, it's been seizing and opening his mail, too.
"What they can do is just unreal," said Grace Hanaway. "I don't know where all this is going to end up."
Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh said on June 30 that the Hanaway case would be reviewed and completed within a month.
Nearly two months later, nothing has happened.
A letter sent to Grace Hanaway this week from deputy justice minister Bruce MacFarlane said the investigation of their case is still ongoing.
The government is alleging Hanaway's money is not being handled properly.
It's accusing the family of mismanaging his affairs, although its correspondence doesn't specifically state how.
"There is concern, as you have been told, that significant sums of money have been expended without authorization from your husband's estate," wrote MacFarlane.
What estate? Hanaway's not dead. And he shares his assets, like most married couples, with his wife.
Her money is his money, and his money is hers. They raised a family together, ran a business together and own a home together.
If the government has some allegations against the Hanaways it feels gives them the right to revoke Grace Hanaway's power of attorney, it should have to prove that in a court of law first.
You can't just arbitrarily suspend someone's civil liberties on allegations of financial mismanagement.
The Hanaways acknowledge they've blown all their money over the years and that their son, who's unemployed, has spent some money, too.
But it's their money and their decision. I don't see how that's any of the government's business -- a government that, by the way, urges people to go to casinos and gamble their money away.
MacFarlane says in his letter that the Public Trustee may take the Hanaway case to court and let a judge decide if Grace should have her power of attorney re-instated, which was suspended by government.
He says if that happens, she can hire a lawyer to represent her, which costs at least $3,000 to $4,000 -- money she doesn't have.
So much for due process.
So much for freedom.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Brodbeck_Tom/2005/08/19/1180438.html
Manitoba retailers fuming over anti-tobacco law -MB
CTV.ca News Staff Sat. Aug. 20 2005
Manitoba's newly enacted smoking legislation has the province's convenience store owners fuming about the expense of hiding cigarettes from kids.
Two stores in Saskatchewan, which has tobacco display laws similar to Manitoba's new one, took the radical step of banning kids from their stores.
"We're making more money off the tobacco companies than we are off kids being in the story," said Ted Cooper of Supersave Gas in Saskatoon, Sask.
To comply with Manitoba's new law, store owners have had to hide cigarettes in cabinets and behind curtains to keep young people from seeing them.
Murray Hurl, the owner of Hurl's Food Mart in Brandon, describes the legislation as "silly. I really question the time, money and expense put into this," he said.
"I'd like to see a little more attention paid to the [guys] selling the crack.''
Hurl warned that hiding cigarettes from view will result in slower service at the till.
He and other retailers are also complaining about additional costs.
David Lindenberg, co-owner of Jiffy Food and Video in Brandon, said the new legislation has already cost him $1,500 because he had to buy lumber and hire a carpenter to build cabinets.
He'll also have to take down displays, which will cut into the money tobacco companies pay to show their product.
The law is meant to reduce temptation for teenagers.
"Eighty-five per cent, some say as high as 90 per cent, of new smokers are teenagers," said Murray Gibson of the Manitoba Tobacco Reduction Alliance. "
Christina Dona of Imperial Tobacco said: "Retail displays do not factor at all into a youth's decision to start smoking. So the effect of this legislation is consumers who no longer know what choices are available to purchase."
Young smokers -- the very people whose health the law was intended to safeguard – insist the law won't stop them from lighting up.
At least one Winnipeg teen agreed. "It doesn't really matter because most people I know steal from their parents," he told CTV. "They're not old enough to buy cigarettes anyway."
Lindenberg said that by hiding cigarettes, retailers are making them more desirable to teenagers.
He also said the new measures will give smoking an added allure; clerks will have to go through an elaborate "ritual" of drawing back a curtain and pulling out drawers to get cigarettes.
But the provincial government defends the measure, saying potential benefits far outweigh the costs.
Manitoba Health spokesman James Drew said some retailers have made the changes part of renovations while others have simply put up curtains.
"The expense has been minimal," he told The Canadian Press. "It has varied in terms of the design of the store and the expense [retailers] have had to incur.''
Drew insists young people have a better chance of not becoming lifetime smokers if they don't pick up a cigarette by the age of 19.
"The intent of the legislation is to de-normalize tobacco and protect children," Drew said. "It's not going to stop all youths from starting to smoke, but you don't have to stop a lot to make it worthwhile."
The legislation was passed in 2002 and came into effect on Jan. 1, 2003. However, it wasn't enforced until Aug. 15, after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld similar legislation in Saskatchewan.
Ontario and Quebec are expected to ban tobacco displays next spring and other provinces could follow.
With a report from CTV's Jill Macyshon
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1124585506581_2/?hub=TopStories or
http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1124585506581_2?hub=topstories
Police Seek Help in Smash and Grab Thefts-ON
Toronto Star Saturday Aug. 20, 2005 page D17
Toronto Police are asking cfor help in identifying suspects wanted in commection with 30 smash and grab thefts in Scarborough since January.
In each case, a group of people drove a stolen minivan inot the front of a convenience store and took large amounts of cigarettes before fleeing in the stolen vehicles, police said.
The cigarettes were then transferred to a second vehicle nearby.
One of the suspects has been caught on video and is described as a man 35- 40 years old, 5- foot- 10 to 6 feet tall, eith short cropped hair and facial hair.
* print version only
Devastating effect of ban -AB
THE RESTRICTIVE smoking bylaw is having a devastating effect on local charities. I cite one bingo hall in particular, where my charity hosts events. July's proceeds are significantly less than 50% of June's proceeds, with August shaping up even worse. Many non-profits rely on gaming revenue to continue to provide programs and services to Edmontonians. The trickle-down effect is frightening in terms of grassroots activities for Edmontonians. Non-smokers are not frequenting the places that they insisted must go non-smoking. Why not? Because they did not frequent them in the first place! This situation is fast becoming a great cause for concern on the local, community-based program level.
Alice Hobbins, executive director,
Association for Evergreen Youth
(The smoking ban is here to stay.)
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/08/21/1181621.html
Luck helps major theft investigation -ON
Broadcast News August 22, 2005
TORONTO -- A bit of luck may have helped Toronto police crack a major theft investigation this morning.
At about 3:45 a.m., a mini-van smashed through the glass doors of a convenience store in the east end (Lawrence and Galloway).
Thieves made off with cartons of cigarettes and police later spotted a truck spilling cigarettes as it drove and gave chase.
The pursuit was eventually called off and that's when the suspects ran out of gas and police pounced on two suspects.
A third is being sought.
This robbery is almost identical to about 30 smash and grab incidents in the area since January.
Police believe the suspects arrested today might be responsible for most of the earlier robberies.
http://www.canada.com/toronto/news/story.html?id=6deab8ba-d287-4666-bd82-9ce4d81e613e
Aboriginals' smoking rate higher
Doug Cuthand Special to The Leader-Post Monday, August 22, 2005
Tobacco use may be decreasing in Canada generally but it is actually increasing in Indian country. First Nations people smoke at a rate that is roughly three times higher than the national average.
In a recent study done by the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, it was established that there is a continuing downward trend in smoking across Canada. Only 20 per cent of the population 15 years and older are current smokers. On the other hand, surveys by the First Nations and Inuit health indicate that 62 per cent of adult First Nations and Inuit smoke, and almost three quarters of young people in their early twenties smoke.
A 1995 survey indicated that 57 per cent of aboriginal Canadians smoked compared with 27 per cent for the rest of the population. Present trends indicate that while smoking is falling out of favour with Canadians in general, it is increasing among aboriginal Canadians.
Aboriginal Canadians are subject to 40 per cent higher rate of stroke and 60 per cent higher rates of heart disease. Lung cancer is becoming a major cause of death and Inuit women have among the highest rates in the world.
These are disturbing statistics. Our people are subjecting themselves and others to a variety of diseases including lung cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases caused by smoking. Deaths caused by tobacco use are preventable but they continue to be a leading cause of death.
Smoking also aggravates the symptoms of diabetes including the breakdown of the circulation in the hands and feet and further increasing the risk of heart disease. Also second hand smoke can be very dangerous for children and the elderly. Second hand smoke contributes to ear infections, asthma and sudden infant death syndrome. Pregnant women risk; miscarriage, low birth weight and premature delivery.
Why do our people smoke so much? Reports that I read speculate that smokers tend to be from lower socio economic groups. Stress plays a factor as well. I once overheard a woman remark that smoking was the only pleasure she had and she would be damned if she would quit. Low-income groups and minority populations tend to have higher rates of smoking. Groups such as black Americans, native Americans and aboriginal peoples of Australia and New Zealand all have smoking rates greater than the rest of their country.
Some of our people, usually smokers, point to the fact that it was First Nations people that used tobacco traditionally and smoking was a natural extension. My rebuttal is that sure we use tobacco in ceremonies and therefore it should be respected. Habitual use of tobacco is not traditional. It's like comparing the use of wine in the communion service with binging. There is no connection whatsoever.
How do we deal with this problem? This is one of the issues that our leaders have to face because in some ways they hold the key. There are the usual ways of providing education to youth who are at risk to become smokers and places such as the community hall and band office can be declared smoke free but there also needs to be political action.
The argument against the imposition of provincial laws such as the so-called "shower curtain law" that hides cigarettes on sale to the public and the designation of smoke free casinos is one of First Nations jurisdiction. The argument is that only First Nations have the right to create laws affecting First Nations lands. I agree, but wouldn't it make more sense if we did the right thing and discouraged smoking?
Jurisdiction must be exercised with prudence and to use it to support bad practices is not in the spirit and intent of self government.
The other nasty issue surrounding smoking comes from the tax free status of stores on First Nations land. These stores are allowed to sell cigarettes to First Nations people without the provincial tax. This means that a pack of cigarettes that costs $11 off reserve can be purchase for around $6 on the reserve.
Reserve stores are largely band owned and they are becoming a cash cow for the reserve economy. They are having the same effect as provincial gaming revenue. Everyone agrees that they create problems but the governments are hooked on gambling and it is harder than ever to turn back the clock.
Our smoking rates are far too high and our leaders need to look at how they can exercise First Nations jurisdiction in our best interest. Jurisdictional disputes and profits at reserve stores may appear favourable in the short run but in the long run it will ruin our health.
Someone once said, "In the long run we'll all be dead, it's just, how soon and by what means."
- Cuthand is a Saskatoon-based freelance writer
http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/news/story.html?id=3961e754-5d85-4b2e-b0ba-43d8bf2e6ea1
I suggest they worry about reasons for suicides first. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fnih-spni/pubs/gen/2003_stat_profil/7_mortality-mortalite-stat_e.html#3_2_1
Tobacco company pleased but still reviewing appeal Court ruling
MONTREAL, Aug. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Imperial Tobacco Canada is pleased with the Quebec Court of Appeal's decision which finds some aspects of the federal government's law to be unconstitutional, particularly its acknowledgement that we have a right to communicate with adult smokers.
Imperial Tobacco Canada shares the Court of Appeal's concern about the need to ensure that tobacco company marketing does not attract youth or incite people to start smoking.
The company is pleased that the Court of Appeal judges unanimously reject the Honourable Judge Andre Denis' numerous erroneous statements made in the first judgment against Canada's tobacco companies - statements which have unfortunately been repeated many times in the public.
Given the complexity in the decision, Imperial Tobacco Canada is taking the time to review in more detail the implications of today's ruling.
Since the first trial began on January 14, 2002, Canada's three tobacco companies (Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp.) argued before the Quebec Superior Court that sections of the Tobacco Act violate the Canadian Charter of Rights' guarantee of freedom of expression by effectively banning all advertising and other promotional activities. After that case was dismissed, all three companies appealed the decision, which was heard by the Quebec Court of Appeal the week of November 29, 2004.
The companies' arguments were consistent with the 1995 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that a total ban on tobacco advertising is not justified. The majority of the Supreme Court considered that restrictions should not extend to advertising that provides information about brands, provides consumers with a means of learning about product availability to suit their preferences, or allows consumers to compare brand content.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/22/c2157.html
Health Canada has updated the It's Your Health article on formaldehyde and indoor air
OTTAWA, Aug. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - The article can be found on the Health
Canada website at:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iyh-vsv/environ/formaldehyde_e.html.
The article now includes reference to the proposed new guideline for acceptable levels of short- and long-term exposure to formaldehyde.
The guideline is intended to assist in the work of public health inspectors. It was developed by Health Canada scientists, with input by other federal, provincial and international experts.
Canadians are welcome to comment on the proposed guideline before it is finalized.
To read and/or provide comments on the new guideline for formaldehyde in indoor air, see the notice in the Canada Gazette, Part I, by visiting:
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2005/20050820/html/notice-e.html#i3
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/22/c2136.html
Quebec Court of Appeal upholds most of federal tobacco ad law
Karine Fortin Canadian Press Monday, August 22, 2005
MONTREAL (CP) - The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld Monday most of the federal law on tobacco advertising but eased some advertising restrictions.
While the court said some parts of the 1997 Tobacco Act are unconstitutional, it upheld provisions ordering labels warning about the health hazards of smoking.
Robert Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society, says "99 per cent of the law was upheld."
The court said it is unfair to forbid tobacco companies from exhibiting their company names when they sponsor an event. However, they are still not able to sponsor an event using a brand name.
The three justices struck down some provisions which, "based on their ambiguity, restrained in an abusive manner the manufacturers' freedom of expression."
Lawyers for Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp. had challenged the Tobacco Act in 2002 on the grounds certain provisions of the law violated their freedom of expression rights.
The companies argued the law basically forbid all advertising and other promotional activities. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1995 that a total ban on advertising was unconstitutional.
It wasn't immediately clear how the ruling would affect tobacco sponsorship of cultural and sporting events, which have lost a major portion of their funding.
The Canadian Grand Prix was dropped from the Formula One's 2004 calendar when the federal government refused to soften anti-tobacco legislation. It was reinstated when organizers came up with $30 million (including $12 million from the federal and Quebec governments) to compensate the teams for lost ad revenue.
Tobacco opponents fear the tobacco companies will change the name of some of their products to their corporate brand in order to advertise at cultural and sporting events.
Imperial Tobacco said in a statement "the decision acknowledged in particular the right of the companies to communicate with adult smokers."
The company said it intends to study the ruling in detail before making further comment.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, smoking rates have declined by nine percentage points to 21 per cent after the adoption in the 1990s of the federal law regulating tobacco products.
Francis Thompson, an analyst with the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, said the ruling is good news for public health.
"(But) it's not a total victory," he said in an interview.
Thompson said it is likely the tobacco companies will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Until then, consumers probably won't see any changes.
"In practical terms, it doesn't change much. It confirms the social consensus that tobacco is a serious danger."
http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=973d6baf-a1c1-49b8-a47b-c737c5780059
August 23, 2005
I recently read a poll that states Canadians' No. 2 health concern is obesity rating, just below cancer and ahead of smoking. Martin and Goodale must be licking their lips in preparing the feds' new Big Mac a-tax.
Richard Barrie
Alexandria
(Though some people would prefer to compare them with Hamburglar ...)
Tobacco-ad law eased
MONTREAL -- The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld yesterday most of the federal law on tobacco advertising but eased some advertising restrictions.
The court said it is unfair to forbid tobacco companies from exhibiting their company names when they sponsor an event. However, they are still not able to sponsor an event using a brand name.
It wasn't immediately clear how the ruling would affect tobacco sponsorship of cultural and sporting events, which have lost a major portion of their funding.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
What do 16,000 really die from?
August 23, 2005
Concerning Heather Crowe and the smoking issue: The Canadian Cancer Society says that 16,000 people die from this disease. Do they mean 16,000 people die from second-hand smoke?
Do they mean that 16,000 people die from smoking-related diseases?
Do they mean that 16,000 people die from lung cancer whether they smoked or not?
What do they really mean?
THOMAS LAPRADE Thunder Bay
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Comment/Letters/2005/08/22/1184018.html or
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=791c8ef7-d6a1-4903-8e1b-80d21c2eac4b
Court - Total ban on tobacco advertising is not justified.
August 22, 2005
Tobacco company pleased but still reviewing appeal Court ruling
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1977
Big tobacco free to sponsor
HEBA ALY The Gazette August 23, 2005
Court strikes down legislation that barred cigarette firms from festivals, sporting events
Tobacco companies in Canada will once again be able to sponsor sporting events and festivals, a practice prohibited in 2003.
The Quebec Court of Appeal struck down certain provisions of the federal Tobacco Act, which "especially due to their ambiguity restrict manufacturers' freedom of expression in an abusive manner," Judge Marc Beauregard said in a judgment made public yesterday.
But sponsorship of events like Montreal's Formula One Grand Prix race will be allowed to bear only corporate names, not those of specific cigarette brands. So while the name "JTI-Macdonald Auto Race" would be legally allowed, "du Maurier Tennis Tournament" would not.
This is "possibly good news" for the Just for Laughs festival, said Michele Bazin, vice-president public affairs.
While the festival is always in need of more sponsors, organizers will have to discuss the "ethical questions" and public perception of tobacco company sponsorship, she said.
Canada's three major tobacco companies - JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. - brought the appeal before the court last year.
The tobacco firms argued federal laws violated their constitutional rights by making it virtually impossible to advertise.
Their case before Quebec Superior Court was dismissed in 2002. (The suit was filed in Quebec because the biggest company, Imperial Tobacco, is based here)
In a statement made public yesterday, Imperial Tobacco said it was pleased with the court's decision, "particularly its acknowledgement that we have a right to communicate with adult smokers."
The court has now permitted the mention of brand names in scientific studies paid for by tobacco companies.
The judgment also revised a provision that prohibits not only promotion that is false, misleading or deceptive but also "likely to create an erroneous impression about the characteristics, health effects or health hazards of the tobacco product."
The court deemed the second half of the provision unconstitutional.
The majority of the act, however, remained intact.
"We would have preferred that the legislation have been entirely upheld without reservation, but as it stands from this judgment, 99 per cent of the legislation was upheld," said Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society who intervened in the case on behalf of the federal government.
"The court of appeal has overwhelmingly endorsed the federal legislation. We consider that to be extremely important and beneficial for public health," Cunningham said.
Picture-based warnings on cigarette packages depicting rotting teeth and damaged hearts were among those regulations deemed constitutional by the court.
"It's very good news that (the pictures) have been maintained, said Mario Bujold, executive director of the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health.
Regulations against the promotion of tobacco products and the association of such products with a positive lifestyle have also been maintained.
Tobacco companies probably won't make use of the more relaxed sponsorship rule because corporate names, unlike brand names, have very limited impact on the public, Cunningham added.
All in all, "it's still not a decision that gives a big advantage to tobacco companies," Bujold said.
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=e150d94c-0062-4a97-b01d-6e961e66c389
Tobacco ad laws loosened by court
By TU THANH HA From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Tuesday, August 23, 2005 Updated at 3:54 AM EDT
Anti-smoking activist fears Quebec ruling will reopen the door to event sponsorship
Montreal — The Quebec Court of Appeal yesterday struck down parts of the federal law on tobacco advertising and labelling, leading an anti-smoking activist to warn that the ruling opens the door to the industry sponsoring sports and cultural events again.
By a 2-1 majority, the three-judge panel struck down as unconstitutional the measure that prohibited the name of a tobacco firm from being associated with a public event.
The restrictions on the display of specific tobacco brands at an event remain, however.
Both the federal government and the tobacco companies are expected to appeal the charter case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"You could have the JTI Tennis Tournament but not have the Export A Tournament," said Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society.
"We believe this creates a loophole which can be exploited by the industry," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers Rights Association.
"It opens the door to this industry to buy legitimacy. This flies in the face of everything that the international health community is trying to do."
Mr. Cunningham saw the ruling in a more positive light, saying that he believed that sponsorship with only company names rather than brand names held little appeal for the industry.
The appeal was launched by Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Rothmans Inc., Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp., which said the law restricted their freedom of expression.
Imperial Tobacco said in a statement yesterday that it was pleased with the ruling, but "particularly its acknowledgment that we have a right to communicate with adult smokers."
The companies lost an initial challenge in a ruling by Mr. Justice André Denis of the Quebec Superior Court in December of 2002.
Writing for the majority in the appellate court's 69-page decision released yesterday, Judge André Brossard said the law went too far in banning the use of tobacco company names in event sponsorships.
"I know, for example, of no legislation that forbids even organized-crime groups, such as biker gangs, from using their name or corporate logo," Judge Brossard wrote.
"I cannot conceive that a duly incorporated company, whose corporate name was approved by the state, whose name by itself bears no harmful connotation going against public order and good manners, could not legitimately use that corporate name."
The three-judge panel also struck down a part of the law that made it illegal for tobacco companies to "create an erroneous impression" in their packaging about the health implications of smoking.
The legislation's wording is too vague and too broad, Judge Marc Beauregard wrote in agreement with Judge Pierrette Rayle and Judge Brossard.
They did not dispute the law's prohibition of "packaging that is false, misleading or deceptive."
"That's an extremely disturbing finding. It should be vigorously appealed by the government," Mr. Mahood said.
In essence, Mr. Mahood said, the ruling says that "you can't tell a direct lie, but if people create an erroneous impression from your marketing or packaging, the industry has no [legal] obligations."
In the ruling, Judge Beauregard made clear that, while he considered smoking a dangerous practice, he also had to consider the right of the industry to freedom of speech.
"It is a euphemism to say that smoking isn't good for health.
"Everyone knows -- and the plaintiffs better than anyone else -- that it is harmful," Judge Beauregard wrote.
Adopted in 1997, the Tobacco Act, initially known as Bill C-71, is one of the toughest existing tobacco laws.
It has been hailed as a model by the World Health Organization.
Mr. Cunningham noted that other key elements in the law -- such as restrictions on advertising or requirements that cigarette packs carry graphic health warnings -- were not struck down.
"The smoking rate in Canada is at a record low, and this legislation contributed to that," he said.
"So the fact that this federal legislation was overwhelmingly upheld is a victory."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050823.wxtobacco23/EmailBNStory/National/
RE "the ban is here to stay"
August 23, 2005
RE: ALICE Hobbins's Aug. 21 letter. She wrote about the devastating effects the smoking ban is having on her local bingo hall and its charitable events. Your editorial comment? "The smoking ban is here to stay." Nice. The ban is not here to stay. If enough people want it changed, then it will be changed. You can fight city hall and win! Next civic election, do not vote for the candidates that supported this ill-thought-out ban. Vote out this liberal-loving crowd we currently have!
Andrew Gregg
(Good luck.)
Ottawa will likely appeal tobacco ruling
By JANE TABER Wednesday, August 24, 2005 Page A2
REGINA -- Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said yesterday that Ottawa will likely appeal a Quebec Court of Appeal ruling striking down parts of a federal law on tobacco advertising and labelling.
Mr. Dosanjh said the government will "most likely" appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada once it has been completely studied, "because we want to make sure we remain the leaders in the world, which is good in itself but it's also good in terms of its effect on health.
"I think it's very, very important for us to do everything possible for us to minimize the impact of tobacco and we will be appealing it all if there is at all any basis of an appeal."
The court struck down as unconstitutional the measure prohibiting the name of a tobacco firm from being associated with a public event, such as a sports or cultural event.
The appeal was launched by Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Rothmans Inc., Benson & Hedges Inc. and JTI-Macdonald Corp., which said the law restricted their freedom of expression.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050824/TOBACCO24/l
For: Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
Contact: Neil Collishaw, Research Director, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
Primary Phone: 613-233-4878
Secondary Phone: 613-297-3590 ext.
E-mail: ccallard@smoke-free.ca
Date issued: August 16, 2005 Time in: 09:59 e
Attention: Health/Medical Editor, News Editor
Heather Crowe readmitted to hospital
Ottawa, August 16 /PR Direct/ - It is with great sadness that Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada informs Heather Crowe's admirers and well-wishers that her cancer is no longer in remission. Heather Crowe has been admitted to the Queensway-Carleton Hospital in Ottawa where she has learned her cancer has spread to her liver, and she is now undergoing tests to determine if her cancer has spread even further.
"There's only so long you can cheat the devil," Heather told us yesterday. "And I feel I have already cheated him for past three years. I am happy with the things I have been able to do in that time."
Heather Crowe is an Ottawa waitress who was diagnosed three years ago with inoperable lung cancer attributable to her exposure to second-hand smoke during a 40-year career of working in restaurants, bars and banquet halls. At the time of her diagnosis, she was given a fifteen per cent chance of surviving for five years.
Following her diagnosis, Heather filed a claim with the Workers Safety and Insurance Board and became the subject of the first successful claim for full compensation for lung cancer caused by occupational exposure to cigarette smoke. She allowed her story to be told in a powerful Health Canada advertisement and she also set out to change labour laws across Canada so that other workers would not suffer the same outcome.
"Heather has made a world of difference," said Neil Collishaw, Research Director with Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. " When she was very ill, but nonetheless very determined, in the middle of her first round of chemotherapy in 2002, she wrote all of the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Labour, offering to meet with them and requesting that they change their laws so that all workers were protected from second-hand smoke. In all but a few jurisdictions, her campaign is succeeding. By next year almost all Canadians will have legal protection from second-hand smoke at work."
Heather is very pleased with the progress that has been made. "We changed the face of labour by standing up for the rights of workers," she said. "But we still need to convince a few more jurisdictions to change their laws and give all workers equal protection from second-hand smoke."
When she started her campaign, Heather said, "I want to be the last person to die from second-hand smoke at work." Now from her hospital bed, she says, "I still want all workers to be protected from second-hand smoke at work. There is not a single worker in Canada who deserves my fate. There should be no second-class lungs. Every worker deserves first-class protection."
Heather wants people to know that she is getting excellent care at the Queensway Carleton Hospital and is very grateful for the kindness that has been extended to her across Canada. "I really appreciate that people have mentioned me in their prayers and have cared what happens to me," says Heather.
Those desiring to wish Heather well can send their words of support by mail to Heather Crowe, care of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, 1226A Wellington Street, Ottawa, Canada, K1Y 3A1, by fax to 1 613 233 7797 or by email to psc@smoke-free.ca.
- END PRESS RELEASE - 8/16/2005
CO: Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
ST:
IN: HEALTH
PRD: 200508160002
http://www.prdirect.ca/en/view_release.aspx?TrafficID=3719
ctmus info
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/tobac-tabac/research-recherche/stat/ctums-esutc/2004/index_e.html
Peel Regional Police - Mississauga store clerk robbed
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Aug. 18 /CNW/ - The Peel Regional Police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying three male suspects in a brazen robbery that occurred at the Hasty Market on Bromsgrove Road.
On Wednesday, August 17, 2005, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the 44 year-old male victim was working at the Hasty Market as a cashier. Three armed suspects entered the store. One suspect immediately assaulted the victim. The suspects continued their assault and demanded money. The suspects took an undisclosed amount of money and cigarettes and fled the store.
Suspect No. 1 is described as male, white, 17-20 years old, 5'7"-5'8", thin build, wearing basketball shorts, a dark tank top and had his face covered with a dark mask or bandana.
Suspect No. 2 is described as male, unknown race, had his face covered with a dark mask or bandana, armed with a black handgun.
Suspect No. 3 is described as male, white, unknown race, had his face covered with a dark mask or bandana, armed with a black handgun.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Central Robbery Bureau at (905) 453-2121, ext. 3410, or Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS/8477.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2005/18/c1382.html
Robbery (Business) - 51 Division
A 45 year old male owner of Plaza 100 Tuck Shop, 100 Wellesley Street East, #107 reports that on August 14, 2005 at about 2010 hours, two male suspects wearing disguises entered the premises. One suspect produced a handgun and pointed it at the victim while the second suspect made a demand for cash. The victim complied. The suspects removed a quantity of cash from the cash register and packs of cigarettes from the counter. The suspects then fled the scene in an unknown direction. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described persons in connection with this offence. Description of Suspect #1: Male, 20 to 23 years, 5’7” to 5’9”, 130 to 141 pounds, thin build. Suspect #2: Male, 20 to 23 years, 5’7” to 5’8”, 130 to 141 pounds.
8558/89594/01:55
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1824
Break & Enter (Business) - 41 Division
Becker’s, 1494 Kingston Road, reports that on August 14, 2005 at approximately 0505 hours, entry was gained into the preemies by forcing a door. Cash and forty cartons of cigarettes were removed.
8812/88625/12:45
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1822
Robbery (Business) - 41 Division
A 48 year old male owner of Park’s Mini Mart, 73B Heale Avenue, reports that on August 11, 2005 at approximately 1418 hours, a male suspect wearing a disguise and armed with a handgun entered the premises, threatened the victim and made a demand for cash and cigarettes. The victim complied and the suspect fled the scene on a bicycle southbound on Heale Avenue towards Kingston Road. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described person in connection with this offence. Description of Suspect: Male, white, 18-19 years, 5’6”-5-7”, 141-150 pounds, medium build, short light brown hair.
8991/89124/16:47
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1816
Robbery (Business) - 42 Division
A 27 year old male employee of Kings Variety, 3700 Kingston Road, reports that on August 5, at approximately 2300 hours, two male suspects wearing disguises and gloves entered the premises and approached the counter. One suspect produced a handgun and made a demand for cash. The victim complied. The suspects then removed cigarettes, phone cards, the videotape which had been recording and the victim’s car key. They also removed cash from the victim’s wallet and fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described persons in connection with this offence. Description of Suspect #1-#2: Male, black, 5’11”, medium build. NO FURTHER DESCRIPTION AVAILABLE.
8025/88625/03:12
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1808
The submission to the CRTC on Aug.22/05
I thought I would share the actual complaint with you.
I was watching the Big Brother program on August 20, 2005 at 9:40 EDT on Bell expressvu channel 236. It is a global affiliation station. I was shocked to see that there was a smoking sucks ad on the TV. The reason for the shock was that there was a picture of a "black lung" included in the ad. I have done some research and the only account I can find of a black lung is in Coal miners. (1) It doesn't mention smoking, or any other causes. I can not find any research or proof that smoking causes black lungs! The evidence that I have found shows that smokers lungs are used for lung transplants (2) and that the extent of black lung is an occupational hazard to miners, not due to smoking. There is some passionate to the cause that have said that pigs lungs were that of a 150 pound man. (3) This is false advertising from what I can see. All referenced material, I have viewed since Sun. Thank you
You can see the ad at http://www.cancer.ca/ccs/internet/standard/0,3182,3702_190402768_390651627_langId-en,00.html
(1) BLACK LUNGS
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9818
(2) Smoker's Lungs Used In Transplant
http://www.marylinstransplantpage.org/smokers-lungs04.htm
(3) Burning passion brings 700 kids to anti-smoking rally
http://www.data-yard.net/10b/actualie.htm Posted at 1:06 pm by looped_ca
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