Edmonton Sun

TAX FOES TELL TORIES TO BUTT OUT

Group gripes about $3M for anti-smoking alliance

Millions of dollars in provincial government funding to an anti-tobacco lobby should be extinguished, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said yesterday.

Earlier this month Alberta Health Minister Halvar Jonson announced the Alberta Tobacco Reduction Alliance will receive $1 million per year for the next three years.

"Our mission is to create a province where people, the economy and the environment are free from the harmful effect of tobacco." said alliance spokesman Joy McGill.

The alliance, founded last fall by Alberta Health has 56 members including the provinces 17 regional health authorities, the Alberta Cancer Board, the Alberta Lung Association, and several anti-tobacco groups.

Mitch Gray, Alberta director of the taxpayers' federation, is fuming about the cost. "A lot of the alliance's members already receive government money" said Gray. This is just another level of bureaucracy. And we're spending a million dollars a year telling people that smoking is bad? Everyone knows that."

Although anti-tobacco programs have cut the smoking in U.S. states like California and Massachusetts, they've had less success here. Alberta Health said a recent study indicates teen smoking has risen here since 1990. "These strategies are completely ineffectual" said Gray. "The more money you spend telling teens not to smoke, the more they're going to smoke."