OTTAWA – Weeks after reports exposed that Conservatives shelved long-awaited plans to improve health warnings on cigarettes as a result of intense lobbying by tobacco insiders, today’s announcement is a clear attempt at damage control to hide how Conservatives were willing to put the interests of big tobacco ahead of the health of Canadians, Liberals charged.
“This government had four years of research and spent 3 and a half million dollars developing new warning labels that they were willing to abandon even though they were shown to be more effective at curbing smoking,” said Liberal Health Critic Ujjal Dosanjh. “Instead, Conservatives chose to halt the plan and help big tobacco, knowing full well that, if implemented, it would stop kids from smoking and help save the lives of Canadians.”
Earlier this month, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq confirmed in a Parliamentary committee that Conservatives had halted a plan – more than five years in development – to compel tobacco companies to update health warnings on cigarette packages and offer a 1-800 quit line, building on the labelling requirements introduced by the Liberal government in 2001.
“While the Minister offered private assurances to Imperial Tobacco last May that the labelling project was suspended, the Canadian public was kept in the dark until this fall,” added Mr. Dosanjh. “Only public uproar over the influence of the tobacco lobby has forced them to change course and so here they are with a hasty announcement designed to cover their tracks buried in the holiday season.”
At committee, Liberals tabled a motion calling on the government to change the Tobacco Products Information Regulations so new picture-based health warnings covering seventy-five percent of cigarette packaging and advertising for a 1-800 quit line would appear on tobacco products immediately in 2011. The warnings would have had to be printed inside the packages as well.
“Today’s announcement is long overdue and suggests the tobacco lobby continues to have a tight grip on this government,” concluded Mr. Dosanjh. “Make no mistake, the Minister’s announcement is damage control for a government who puts its own interests – and the interests of powerful insiders – ahead of the health and safety of Canadians.”
