Manitoba Hospitality Industry Speaks
City Hall Meeting - Re: Smoking
Ban June 11, 1999
North Committee Room, Council Building, 510
Main St., Winnipeg, Manitoba
9:00 a.m. My
name is Ron Ledohowski and I am the acting President for the Cabaret
Alliance of Manitoba.
The Alliance represents all
cabarets in Winnipeg, and in fact Manitoba. I also am one of the
principals of Hospitality Corporation of Manitoba. Hospitality
Corporation has been recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best
Managed Private Companies for two consecutive years by the Financial
Post and Arthur Anderson. Leo, the President and C.E.O. of Hospitality
Corporation, and also a member of this and other Associations will also
speak.
Prior to his career with Hospitality
Corporation, Leo was a university professor at both Carleton
University and the University of Manitoba. Leo earned his Bachelor of
Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan with a major in
Economics. He continued at the University of Saskatchewan to complete a
Bachelor of Commerce in Administration and Organizational Psychology. He
then went on to a Masters in Business Administration degree in
Accounting and Finance from the University of McMaster in Hamilton,
Ontario. He is also a Certified Management Accountant with the Canadian
Society of Management Accountants as well as a Certified Hotel
Administrator with the American Hotel, Motel Educational Institute of
the United States.
We are in a unique position with our
properties at Hospitality Corporation to be members of three
groups represented today, the Cabaret Alliance, the Manitoba
Hotel Association, and the Manitoba Restaurant Association.
The Cabaret Alliance of Manitoba
attempts to be an ear, for the membership, to the various governing
bodies within our industry. We offer ourselves to the government as a
proactive organization desirous of reaching common goals and objectives
and solving issues of concern through open dialogue. The Alliance
is also intended to be the collective voice of cabaret operators.
Our position is that a “total ban”
or any increased restriction in the cabaret setting would be detrimental
to the industry as experienced in other markets that have attempted to
implement such an unenforceable ban. We also feel data regarding second
hand smoke is inconclusive and is represented by faulty scientific
procedures intended to arrive at a preconceived conclusion using smoking
in general as an emotional “hot button”.
Our points are as follows:
1) Various review resource material
available including (Additional copies of both books being shipped
in and will be made available on request):
Passive Smoke: The EPA’s Betrayal
of Science and Policy by Gio B. Gori and John C. Luik. (ISBN #
0-88975-196-X)
» Gio Batta Gori is along time defender
of sound science as a foundation of fair public policy in health and
safety, strong in his broad interests and experience in toxicology,
epidemiology, nutrition, smoking and health, and environmental issues.
He has lectured widely in North America, Europe, and many countries,
appeared at several hearings in the U.S. Congress and foreign
governments, and has advised corporations internationally. Born in
Friuli Italy, he obtained a Doctorate in Biology after an education in
the Classics. In the United States he first worked with the late Jonas
Salk, followed by academic and industrial experiences. During a
distinguished tenure at the National Cancer Institute he was deputy
director of the Division of Cancer Cause and Prevention, and directed
the Smoking and Health Program and the Diet and Cancer Program. He was
recognized with the U.S. Public Health Service Superior Service Award
for his achievements in smoking and health. Later he organized and
directed the Franklin Institute Policy Analysis Center followed by his
own Health Policy Center, a study and advisory group in health policy
and regulation. He publishes extensively on scientific and policy
matters.
» John C. Luik has taught philosophy
and management studies at a number of universities, has been Senior
Associate of the Niagara Institute with responsibility for its work in
public policy and leadership and organizational change, and has worked
as a consultant for governmental institutions, professional
organizations and corporations in the United States, Europe, Asia,
Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. He was educated on a Rhodes
Scholarship at the University of Oxford where he obtained the BA, MA and
D.Phil. degrees. His academic interests include public policy,
particularly the use of science in policy and the question of government
intervention to change risky behaviors, the ethics of advertising and
business, and philosophy. He is a frequent media commentator and
conference speaker and the author of numerous articles and several
books. His most recent publications include: “The Assault on
Pleasure: Health Promotion and Engineering the Human Soul”, “Pandora’s
Box: The Dangers of Corrupted Science for Democratic Public Policy”,
Smokescreen: Passive smoking and Public Policy, “I Can’t Help
Myself: Addiction as Ideology”, Advertising and Markets, “Humanism”,
and “The Problem of Permission for Pleasure in a Democratic Society”.
The following book is also referenced in the
book mentioned above.
Science Without Sense: The Risky
Business of Public Health Research by Steven Milloy (ISBN #
1-882577-34-5 Library of Congress Catalogue #95-72177)
» Steven J. Milloy is Director of
Science Policy Studies at the National Environmental Policy Institute.
Since 1990, Mr. Milloy has focused exclusively on environmental, risk
and regulatory policy issues. Mr. Milloy holds a B.A. in natural
sciences from The John Hopkins University, a Master of Health Sciences
in biostatistics from The John Hopkins University School of Public
Health, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Baltimore and a Master
of Laws in securities regulation from the Georgetown University Law
Center.
I will indicate some contradictions
regarding the relative risk of ELF (Electromagnetic Fields) in
comparison to ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) within two separate
publications from the EPA itself. Are the rules different for tobacco
smoke?
One government agency criticizes another
government agency on their invalid data collection and predetermined
results. The Congressional Research Service raises questions about EPA’s
“secondhand Smoke” Study.
In fact Dr. Kabat, who served on the EPA’s
Science Advisory Board panel that reviewed all of the material on “second
hand smoke” states that the “EPA is making a stretch when they
call ETS a Class A carcinogen.” He went on to say he was against
smoking “but exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is unlike
cigarette smoking.” Dr. Kabat’s own study on ETS was funded by
the National Cancer Institute and published in the July 13,1995 issue of
the Journal of Epidemiology. It found little association between ETS and
the risk of lung cancer for women who lived with spouses who smoked.
1) Although it is convenient to say
any ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) is dangerous to the Health, all
the chemicals (except Nicotine) are present in outdoor air due to
automotive emissions etc. Scientifically and not generally, what true
level is safe and what is not? If outdoor air is considered to be “clean
air” what is the difference in levels between outdoor air and a
Cabaret. We suggest the levels are so minute as to be both
unregisterable on any mechanism of measurement. In fact, bad
ventilation, regardless of tobacco smoke, is unhealthy. Are we talking
more about a ventilation/air exchange issue? It would follow that a good
influx of outdoor (or “Clean Air”) would help resolve any
irrational concerns regarding second hand smoke and I would suggest
current code exists regarding appropriate ventilation/air exchange.
2) Cigarette smoke is on the rise.
But were you aware that its growth is specifically centered on the youth
market. I would suggest that the issue is youth smoking. Are the Tobacco
Ads converting kids? Or is it a reaction to all the publicity smoking is
getting regarding movements to ban? Bars are age-restricted environments
where adults make decisions whether to smoke or to enter.
3) Contrary to comments made by the
anti-smoking lobby, the attempted and unenforceable ban on smoking in
the Hospitality Industry has not worked. I attach various items
including two recent studies done by CCG Consulting Group in Vancouver
B.C. The report on Toronto is titled “An Analysis of Economic
Consequences” and prepared for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees
Union, Ontario Hotel and Motel Association, and the Ontario Restaurant
Association. The second report is entitled “An Estimate of Economic
Consequences” prepared for the Lower Mainland Hospitality Industry
Group in Vancouver. Who better represents the industry than the various
associations that represent the industry and its employees as well.
4) What are the tourism issues
resulting from a ban? We have some input on this regarding the situation
in Vancouver. Are local casinos being considered for the ban as well? We
will attempt to expand on the topics presented as best as possible given
the short lead-time. I apologize on the tardiness of this submittal,
however, I came into information today, accidentally I might add, that a
forum was being provided on this issue where not just Dr. Fast would be
speaking.
Kindest Regards,
(signed)
Ron
Ledohowski
President
Cabaret Alliance of Manitoba
RL/ll
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