|
January 2005
TOBACCO NEWS FROM CANADA Comments by Warren Klass President, FORCES - Canada Dateline - St. John’s, Newfoundland
At the very moment when the anti-smoking nuts in Western Canada are dropping all their lies about second-hand smoke to push for smoking bans-the new pretext being they “help” smokers quit, the government of Newfoundland has resorted to Blood-libels as an excuse to push for smoking bans. Here is an excerpt from the Newfoundland government’s press release. You have to wonder if they are actually stupid enough to believe this unsubstantiated garbage: “In 2004,112 deaths in Newfoundland &Labrador were attributed to the effects of second-hand smoke. Annually second-hand smoke exposure results in an estimated 784 hospitalizations, 8,400 hospital days, and 11.9 million in expenditures in our health system.” Nowhere in this press release was there any evidence offered for this Blood-Libel. Dateline - Montreal, Quebec
“Retail display bans ultimately penalize adult smokers and legitimate businesses. Displays of our products do not influence the decision to smoke, but rather the decision as to which brand to purchase. In some retail outlets adult smokers can choose amongst 400 tobacco products. These retail displays are currently the only legal means available to let adult smokers know about price and availability-including information about new brands. Banning these displays inevitably penalizes many convenience store owners who rely on the money these displays provide as a key part of their livelihood.” There will be more on this topic in the Toronto dateline. Dateline - Tillsonburg, Ontario
Dateline - Sault, Ontario
Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
The always fair and balanced Red Star actually published a letter from someone supporting the tobacco farmers. An excerpt:
Val Patrick Also from Toronto, the association representing some 6,000 Ontario Convenience store operators put out a press release about how they and independent gas retailers are being seriously hurt by proposals to restrict tobacco displays, which will increase their costs and increased tobacco taxes. This has led to everything from increased robberies to increased black-market tobacco sales. 40% of convenience store sales are tobacco. Dateline - North Bay, Ontario “When are these parasites going to be told to fuck off?” Message attached by the person who forwarded me the following story.
Here is the PARASITE wish list from the lucky Ontario taxpayers:
Applicants are encouraged to apply at the North Bay branch of the Ontario Liberal Party. Dateline - Rapid City, Manitoba
Even before the smoking bans impacted rural Canada, the banks would not issue mortgages on rural Hotels considering them too risky. If a current owner wants to sell, they have to take back the mortgage. The owners are Jim and Lianne Christie. Here is what Jim told the Free Press about the smoking ban: ”I think its too soon to tell what impact it will have but we’ve had a bad fall season.” Lianne told the Free Press: ”The government says smoking’s bad. So VLTs are good? You can play the slots, and you can have a lap dancer, but you can’t have a cigarette?” Business at rural bars such as the Queen’s Hotel has declined by an average of 30% since the smoking ban was imposed, according to the Free Press. Dateline - Regina, Saskatchewan
The Regina Leader Post profiled the impact the smoking ban is having on rural truck stops. Some have put the restaurant losses at 90%. One owner of a truck stop in Swift Current puts the loss at $150 a day since the smoking ban was imposed. Dateline - Lloydminster, Saskatchewan/Alberta
Alderman Duff Stewart called the actions of the Saskatchewan government “ludicrous.” Mayor Ken Baker complained to the Meridian Booster that the Saskatchewan government never consulted with them and now finds it’s a “mess” in Lloydminster. The Saskatchewan NDP government has repeatedly turned down a waiver from the Saskatchewan side of the Lloydminster hospitality industry. Dateline - Richmond, B.C.
Tom Orange, the owner of Robusts Cigars is launching a challenge to Richmond’s smoking bylaw. I am going to digress slightly from the usual Tobacco News from Canada format for a special “Other Voices”edition. The following are excerpts from editorials, columnists, and letters to the editor that have appeared in various Canadian media in the past few days. I will be back with the tobacco news from across Canada-and there is a lot-next week. Dateline - Montreal, Quebec
“That the smoking ban was announced purportedly out of concern for public health has fooled no one…the real motivation for this smoking ban is purely political: reversing the contagion process initiated by Quebec nationalists. Someone had to save Canada-and with half the federal cabinet chasing photo-ops in Southeast Asia and the other half under subpoena at the Gomery inquiry, the job went to the Quebec Liberals. That Toronto thing-being unable to consume a coffee, a cigarette, and a newspaper simultaneously…will have far-reaching consequences once it is implemented in Montreal. Can women wearing running shoes with dresses, or people skipping a wine-soaked lunch in order to work more, be far behind? And then what? Low-carb diet poutine? Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
Previously in Forces Canada, I have made reference to the fact that the original “smoking causes lung cancer” and other assorted hysterics came BEFORE filtered cigarettes appeared in the early 60s.Johnny Carson who recently died at age 79 spent decades smoking non-filtered cigarettes. My warnings to Canadian kids about the high levels of tar, carcinogens in unfiltered B.C.Bud are very applicable in Dr. Luik’s very important commentary. “A coalition of health groups recently stated its intention to sue Ottawa to ban the use of the terms” light” and “mild” on tobacco products. This is the Canadian public health community’s latest attempt to derail “harm reduction”-one of the most important strategies for saving smoker’s lives in the past 40 years. Harm reduction provides lower-risk tobacco products-cigarettes with filters and dramatically reduced tar levels-to smokers unable or unwilling to stop smoking. Since the early 1960s for example, filtered cigarettes have come to dominate the market and tar yields of cigarettes have declined dramatically. Whereas in 1944 the average cigarette averaged 46 milligrams of tar, by 1994 the average tar level was 12 mg. And while only 1% of cigarettes consumed in the 1950s were filtered, in the 1980s almost 95% were. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 1979 report on Smoking and Health details several major studies that show that half-a-pack-a-day smokers have roughly 25% of the lung cancer risk of two-pack-a-day smokers. That smokers could reduce their health risks by smoking cigarettes with lower tar levels comes not from the tobacco industry but some of the major experts in smoking and health of the last century. For instance, Sir Richard Doll, one of the scientists who linked lung cancer and smoking, examined smoking deaths over 1950-84.He found that death rates from smoking actually declined, not because people were smoking less-they weren’t-but because the constituents of cigarettes had changed, most notably through lower tar levels. Similarly, Britain’s Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health concluded in 1988 “past reductions in the yields of tar and associated cigarette-smoke components have reduced the risk of lung cancer and possibly of chronic obstructive airways disease.” In fact, it was this reduction in lung cancer from light and mild cigarettes that led the committee to conclude that further tar reductions would be “beneficial to the health of the public.” In reality, the anti-smoking lobby opposes light and mild cigarettes because they threaten the goal of eliminating smoking. These fundamentalists believe there is no such thing as a safer cigarette-the choice is between smoking and dying. To compromise on this article of “faith” is to risk the entire religion. Canada’s five million smokers might prefer their light cigarettes to such a faith.” Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Here is Eric’s letter on the same topic in the National Post:
Dateline - Calgary, Alberta
Here is an excerpt from Michael Platt’s recent column on Alberta’s anti-smoking PARASITES:
Dateline - Vernon, B.C
Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
The Supreme Court has given provincial governments throughout Canada a green light to ban the public display of cigarettes being sold. This will cost small retailers who can ill afford it desperately needed promotional revenue from tobacco companies. Dateline - Tillsonburg, Ontario “Call out the
instigator, cause there’s something in the air.
Here is an excerpt from the National Post:
Their message was clear: Governments and bureaucrats are killing rural Canada with excessive regulation and intrusive legislation. According to the organizers, the protest was precursor of things to come… Others are upset about smoking bylaws, some say they are treated rudely by Ottawa city officials.” Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
With all due respect to Mr.Weinrub, my take on the conspicuous silence of the anti-smoking nuts is very different. I think they shut up because they didn’t want to draw attention to Nazi anti-smoking campaigns. I can attest from first hand experience that the ignorance of the media about identical Nazi anti-smoking campaigns is unbelievable. In other tobacco news out of Toronto, the Toronto Red Star took a break from bashing President Bush long enough to write an editorial telling Ontario tobacco growers to DROP DEAD! (Here is a encapsulation of virtually every Toronto Red Star editorial and columnist on President Bush: ”Blah, blah, blah Iraq, blah, blah, blah, no weapons of mass destruction, blah, blah, blah, Abu Graib Prison, blah, blah, blah” Personally speaking, I have very little sympathy for these terrorists who chop off people’s heads and set off car bombs.). A bunch of you sent me a similarly themed column from a moron at the London Free Press who also told Ontario tobacco farmers to go to hell. Finally from Toronto, the Dolton Gang raised cigarette taxes by $1,25 a carton. The third increase in a year. Dateline - Dundas, Ontario
The Dundas Star News carried a letter sent by Mike Alkerton; the president of the Dundas Branch 36 Legion to McMeehin.Here is an excerpt:
The Dundas Legion paid the Ontario government $30,614.14 in sales tax and over $10,000 in fees for lottery tickets. The Dundas Legion sponsors many are charities. Dateline - North Bay, Ontario The North Bay Nugget reported that thieves did not even wait for Dolton’s latest tax hike before breaking in to a local corner store and stealing $500 worth of cigarettes. Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba “Its easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred.” Bob Dylan, It’s All right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), 1964.
Thomas Laprade of Thunder Bay, Ontario had an excellent letter on this topic published in the Winnipeg Sun. Eric Boyd of Waterloo, Ontario had a letter on this topic published in the National Post. My intention is to re-print both letters later in the week when I have more space. I’m not a religious person, nor am I religiously observant, but I consider this part of the new Paganism, of which anti-smoking is but one aspect sweeping Canada. I define Paganism as making a fetish out of the body and “Health.” Paganism and Pantheism have also made fetishes over environmental purity. The desecration of holy books and religious symbols has long been associated with Pagan expressionism. The Winnipeg Sun’s columnist Frank Landry wrote a column that claimed that the NDP cynically exempted Indian casinos from the smoking ban for crass political motivation. Indians overwhelmingly vote NDP.I am shocked-shocked at the suggestion that the NDP would compromise the health of first nations people, for crass political calculations. This is a hot issue from the local anti-smoking PARASITES. Liberal Federal Indian Affairs Minister, Andy Scott, who has jurisdiction over Indian Lands declined to impose a smoking ban on Indian gaming in Saskatchewan. I’m certain that the federal Liberal’s motivation is much purer than the NDP’s. Finally from Loserpeg, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the local anti-smoking PARASITES are upset that smoking is still allowed at federal instititutions such as the CBC and the Post Office. Both have designated smoking rooms not open to the public. Federal institutions are exempt from Manitoba’s smoking laws. Dateline - Weyburn, Saskatchewan
The whole riot squad was called out-complete with whistles-because the Royal Hotel allowed patrons to smoke and had ashtrays on the tables. Multiple tickets were handed out to the Hotel owner, Bob Joyal for everything from allowing smoking to having ashtrays on the tables. Tickets were handed out to patrons caught smoking. The Saskatchewan NDP previously announced there would be a 60-day grace period where warnings instead of tickets would be issued. Royal Hotel owner, Bob Joyal told the Leader-Post:” This is like the Gestapo raid. How ridiculous is this getting?” Smoking, however, is permitted on the nearby hospitality venues of the Broken head Indian Reservation. Dateline - Edmonton, Alberta
Klein called smoking bans “useless.” He also claimed that second-hand smoke poses no danger to anyone. Naturally, the whole contingent of hyenas in the media let loose. Gone were the Blood-Libels about second-hand smoke only to be replaced with the claims that smoking bans make people quit. Naturally the PARASITES bombarded the media with bogus polls that claimed (A) smoking bans are popular (B) Smoking bans make people quit(C) Smoking bans don’t hurt business. As far as congenital liars go they are at least consistent. Naturally the most moronic ranting on this topic belonged to Edmonton Sun columnist Mindelle Jacobs who having nothing to say called Klein a “dinosaur.” Kids, let this be a warning to you. If you smoke too much pot like Mindelle, you too may start to sound like a long-winded brain dead, know-nothing idiot who wouldn’t be allowed to cover fires at any other newspaper. Dateline - Brundheim, Alberta
Dateline - Yorke, Ontario
Yorkeregion.com is reporting that Nancy Daigneault organized a demonstration opposed to the Ontario smoking ban. Yorkeregion.com also reports that mychoice membership has increased from 10,000 to 15,000.For comparison purposes, Forces International annually receives about 13 million hits a year. Yorkeregion quotes musician Rick Jennings, one of the demonstrators as saying: “They (the Ontario Liberal government) say they’re concerned about the health of bartenders and wait staff, but shutting down the smoking rooms is ruining the business. Three bars I played in Scarborough have already shut down.” Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
“HUGE INVISIBLE FART GAS CLOUDS ENCIRCLE THE ENTIRE PLANET The Chemical Constituents of Fart-Gas Qualify as a Bio-Weapon of Mass Destruction Anti-Farting Activists Believe Human Farts Are the Real Cause For Rising Illnesses and Deaths as the Biggest Health Risk in the Faces of the Human Race. Farts can be linked to:
Restaurants must have Fart-Rating signs. Farting with children in the car must be against the law.” Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba “We were born here. What’s your excuse?” Sign welcoming Homer Simpson to Winnipeg on last Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons. Homer was in Winnipeg buying cheap Canadian prescription drugs.
Here are some new crimes:
In other Loserpeg news, the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Sun both reported the local PARASITES are calling for the sale of tobacco products be banned from pharmacies because it sends a “mixed message.” It’s very harmful to buy your cigarettes where you buy your Vioxx. The PARASITES are also calling for smoking bans be extended to Indian Reservations, and for stop smoking snake oil be given to the poor. Dateline - Regina, Saskatchewan “Canada has enough drugs to make Regina look like Saskatoon.” Johnny Canuck to Ned Flanders in Sunday’s episode of The Simpson’s.
In a late breaking story, CBC is reporting that Federal Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott will not ban smoking at the Bear Claw casino operated by the White Bear First Nation near Carlyle, Saskatchewan. This was the first test case. Non-Indian restaurant owners are not quite as lucky. Here is an excerpt of a letter published earlier in the week in the Regina Leader-Post:
Dateline - Melford, Saskatchewan
The Melford Journal earlier this week carried a follow-up on how the smoking ban impacted business at Chances R. As expected the effect has been devastating. Miss Goldstein told the Journal:” Business is very noticeably down. In such a short time that’s very scary. They (customers) have a quick beer and leave.” Dateline - Calgary, Alberta
Ezra Levant takes issue with politicians calling smokers “stupid”. Some excerpts”
Dateline - Halifax, Nova Scotia “Obscenity-who really cares? Propaganda all is
phony.”
Apparently this $600,000 campaign involves two “mulleted headbangers” extolling the virtues of smoking so kids won’t smoke. Deep. Maybe I’m getting old, but I fail to see how saying the word Fuck to kids makes the lies and propaganda of these PARASITES any more palpable. No matter how the PARASITE’s message is jazzed up, its still one of dreary, sanctimonious ascetics. Dateline - Montreal, Quebec
Vivre le Quebec. Vivre le Quebec libre. Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
Bloomberg News, the Toronto Sun, the London Free Press and a couple of others are all reporting that a coalition of PARASITES led by Gar Mahoodlum of the Non-Smokers Rights Association are suing the Federal Competition Bureau over Light and Mild cigarettes. This Torts R Us fiasco is at least well aimed, as it was the Federal government that MANDATED Light and Mild cigarettes in the first place back in the late 60s. Bloomberg quotes John Wilgast, director of corporate affairs at JTI-Macdonald (Japan Tobacco/RJR) as saying: “Light and mild cigarettes, or reduced-tar and nicotine products were introduced in the late 60s at the request of the federal government. Surveys indicate the vast majority of smokers are quite aware of the risks of smoking and people who are choosing to smoke light and mild cigarettes are not doing this for a health benefit.” We can now add frivolous lawsuits to the other accomplishments of the PARASITES. Here is where hundreds of millions the Liberal Party generously hand out the PARASITES goes: paying themselves 6 figure salaries, attending endless winter conferences in places like Miami on teen smoking, moronic FUBAR campaigns. In other news out of Ottawa, PUBCO (Pub and Bar Coalition of Ontario) put out a press release demanding $500 million in compensation for lost business from Ontario’s proposed smoking ban. Lest you thing they are exaggerating, keep in mind the NDP government estimates the losses projected in the far smaller Saskatchewan at $100 million. Finally from Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen reports a man was shot in the hallway of an apartment block over a dispute about smoking in the hallway. Dateline - Sudbury, Ontario
The basic story is one we in Canada know all too well. Health Canada put out a report that says Canadian teenagers think marijuana is less harmful than tobacco. The numbers of kids who hoot up is huge: 30% of 15-17 year olds and 47% of 18-19 year olds admitted to smoking pot last year. The problem is Health Canada, and the Canadian media has totally gone overboard in their claims about tobacco and now risk making a laughingstock of themselves if they tried to begin to tell the truth about pot. Because of the huge numbers involved its inevitable the Liberals will de-criminalize if not legalize pot. Is marijuana safer than tobacco? No. Whether it should be legalized is an entirely different question, but there is no question just on the basis of “Health” (the bitch-goddess Canadians worship) modern marijuana is far more harmful than tobacco. The Sudbury Star commissioned a panel of 20 pot-smoking teenagers. All 20 considered tobacco bad-bad, but marijuana harmless. Here are a few comments; the first is from a teenage girl: “When you get lung cancer from cigarettes, you can smoke marijuana to relieve the lung cancer.” Not exactly. B.C. Bud contains about 40-90% more tar and carcinogens than tobacco. This means that smoking 1-2 joints is the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes. Secondly, cigarettes are generally smoked with filters. Pot isn’t. The original smoking causes lung cancer scares in the 50s and 60s came from people who were in their 70s who smoked cigarettes before filters were invented. Over the Christmas break, someone sent me a Readers Digest story from the 50s about the invention of cigarette filters. Nobody has developed lung cancer from marijuana, only because nobody is old enough. The outer end of baby boomers that started smoking pot in the 60s is about 60 years old. But the pot smoked in the 60s was not the pot smoked today. The pot today is about 90% stronger than anything smoked in the 60s-so I’ve heard. Given the tar, carcinogens and lack of filters, its inevitable that smoking B.C.Bud for 60 years is going to cause an epidemic of lung cancer. These kids are seriously deluded if they believe otherwise. A 20 year old told the Sudbury Star:” I’m aware of the hazards of smoking pot, but the benefits far outweigh the hazards.” Getting ripped so The Matrix makes sense is a real benefit. Listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon on a windows media player is another real benefit. What else? Nobody really knows the physical or psychological effects of teenagers hooting profuse amounts of B.C.Bud-because it hasn’t been around long enough. The Sudbury Star quotes a girl who smoked her first joint at age 9,and a boy who at age 11 smoked an “oily doobie”(a joint dipped in hash oil) as saying cigarettes are much more harmful than pot. Yeah, right. Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
“The anti-smoking strategy includes a funded Web site entitled stupid.ca .It assures us that it is not “meant to be an insult to smokers” because “smokers aren’t stupid.” Rather it offers “social commentary on the choice to smoke or not to smoke.” Oh. Browse the Web site and the only possible conclusion is that if smokers aren’t stupid-meaning they don’t know better then they are deliberately making bad choices. That is to say, they are morally inferior. Now, government energy is focused on health. If you wish to let your soul rot in hell, the government will affirm your right to do so-but don’t try it with your body. So we have the rather ironic situation that the government of Ontario operates casinos, but now won’t let you smoke in them. The government of Ontario –like other provinces-will entice the public to gamble, but as you are wagering away the grocery money, don’t think about lighting a cigarette. Our universities promote condoms to new students with great enthusiasm to avoid disease; nary a word is offered that might question promiscuity as a bad moral choice. Public health authorities will facilitate your drug habit with free needles but are not so keen about telling you that it is simply wrong to shoot yourself up. On health matters, the government is a veritable church lady. The anti-smoking legislation caps rather remarkable year on the health front. A private members bill sailed through Queen’s Park making helmets mandatory for adults cycling, rollerblading, or skateboarding. My colleague Andrew Coyne demolished the evidentiary case for mandatory bike helmets in November in these pages, but no matter. The initiative is a moral one: There exists a moral imperative to manage all health risk, and should you dissent, the law will bind you. What apparently cannot be rescinded is the mentality that free citizens cannot be trusted to manage their own health. When it comes to thorny social issues, those advocating the abandonment of traditional mores insist of the supremacy of individual consciences. But not when it comes to health. The safety and smoking fanatics operate on the assumption that people are not responsible enough to be trusted with their freedom. So they must be harassed and nagged and if they don’t comply, then good habits must be legislated. We will be healthy, whether we like it or not.” Over the holidays, someone sent me a column about the year-end club scene in Toronto from the appropriately named Mary Dickie. Writing in the Toronto Sun; Miss Dickie compiled a list of highlights. Not surprisingly, the city’s smoking ban was first on her list of accomplishments. Miss Dickie claims the club’s are still packed. We’ve heard otherwise. A close second on Miss Dickie’s list of accomplishments is the superlative review she offered the re-formed MC5.For those of you too young to remember the 60s,the MC5 were a peripheral musical/cultural sideshow. The MC5 (Motor City 5) were part of the “Detroit sound”-glorified garage bands with a gimmick (The Stooges, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad). The MC5 would open concerts by burning the American flag and opened with their signature song: Kick Out The Jams (Mother---er). Unfortunately after the initial expressionism there wasn’t much there, beyond a glorified garage band. The public yawned and they faded away until now where they are hot again in the Toronto club scene. Miss Dickie informs us that this is not the original MC5.Two members had died-probably of old age-and were replaced. For those too young to remember, the MC5 were part of the goofy 60s.The Doors at their most pretentious ”We want the world and we want it-NOW” and “They got the guns but we got the numbers” were in the same genre. The Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers “got to revolution” sans the line sung by lead singer Gracie Slick “up against the wall, Motherf---ers” is now an advertising slogan for e-trade, and plays every five minutes on CNBC the stock market channel. Lead singer Gracie Slick, a few years ago on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect called for Clinton’s impeachment for using a cigar as a sexual surrogate. The MC5’s politics were similar to the 60s film Wild In The Streets. In the movie the voting age-then 21-was lowered to 16 and kids elected a Rock star as President of the United States. One of the first acts of the new President was to send all those over 30 to concentration camps where they were force fed LSD “to learn to be cool.” The other breathtaking highlight of the celebrated smoke-free Toronto club scene involved the heartbreaking departure of bassist, and undoubtedly real class broad, Katie Lynn Campbell from (I’m not making this up) the group Nashville Pussy. The Toronto Star reported that the brains and money behind www.mychoice,ca is none other than Imperial tobacco lobbyist James Deacy. Mr. Deacy also ran the advertising campaign of Dolton McGuinty, and has a long history with the Liberal party. Finally from Toronto comes word of the latest endeavor of “Dr” Roberta Ferrence. I’m not exact sure what kind of “Dr” this poster girl for affirmative action is supposed to be. My hunch would be a proctologist. She was definitely an expert in performing a rectal cranial inversion upon herself-making a complete ass of herself, by claiming smoking bans are great for business. According to a Cancer Society press release, Roberta is taking all her renowned expertise with numbers to launch a campaign about outdoor second-hand smoke. Dateline - Treherne, Manitoba
Jenkinson’s lawyer, Art Stacey is now forgoing a separate constitutional challenge to Manitoba’s smoking ban, but will incorporate those arguments in Jenkinson’s defense. Rural Hotel owners have raised $30,000 for Jenkinson’s legal defense. Dateline - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Dr. Cory Neudorf told the Star-Phoenix:” This would be quite groundbreaking.” Even for a glorified blood-libel, this is truly pathetic. Never mind for a moment that heart disease has 300 documented causes, there ain’t one iota of evidence that second-hand smoke is the 301. Here is but a small sample of the voluminous evidence found in the Forces evidence archive on this question. The famous study published last year in the British Medical Journal that examined the health records of hundreds of thousands of non-smoking Californians married to smokers over a 40 year period found:” The results do not support a casual relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality. The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than generally believed.” The enormous study of German flight attendants whose records dated from 1956 to the mid-1990s also found NO connection between second-hand smoke and lung cancer or heart disease. This study appeared in the April 2003 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Dr. John Bailar, a University of Chicago epidemiologist, and the world’s acknowledged expert on heart disease and second-hand smoke wrote a 1999 editorial for the New England Journal of Medicine dismissing any supposed link as “implausible.” In epidemiology, the word “implausible” means there is no biological evidence. Bailar also claimed second-hand smoke was “too diffuse” to cause heart disease. This was but a small sample of the voluminous evidence on this topic. In other news from Saskatoon, CBC is reporting that Barry Gumulcak, the owner of the Vanscoy Motor Hotel as saying:” I’m going to continue to patrons smoke.” Mr. Gumulcak is hoping the NDP will re-consider the smoking ban after the two month grace period ends. Dateline - Regina, Saskatchewan
The White Bear First Nations has joined other Indian tribes in Saskatchewan in allowing smoking on hospitality venues on its territory. In other news, the Regina Leader-Post is reporting that existing health inspectors will double as Saskatchewan’s smoke police. No new smoke police will be hired. Dateline - Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Dateline - Edmonton, Alberta
This is a special Toronto edition of Forces Canada. This issue will focus exclusively on some media reaction to the Liberals imposing a province-wide smoking ban in Ontario. I am confining this issue to exact words contained in editorials, columns and letters from The Grope and Flail, National Post, Toronto Red Star and Toronto Sun. Due to the necessity of space limitations, the following quotes are abridged, but they are in no way a distortion. The best encapsulation of the antics of the Dolton Gang came from a non-smoker, Matt Chung quoted in the London Free Press:” I don’t even smoke and I think its stupid.” Dateline - Grope and Flail-except of an editorial
Mr. Smitherman this week proudly described his government’s proposed legislation as the “toughest, most comprehensive, and far reaching” in North America. He may well be right. Certainly his crusades have had an evangelistic zeal to them; consider his blanket ban, since aborted, on the sale of sushi and other raw fish. What’s missing is a sense of proportion.” Dateline - National Post-excerpt of an editorial
The Ontario government’s decision to outlaw even the sensible compromise goes beyond ensuring public safety. Dalton McGuinty’s government has now entered the realm of hysterical Puritanism. And we hope other Canadian provinces do not follow Ontario’s example.” Dateline - National Post-excerpt of signed editorial by Marni Souproff, member of National Post editorial board
By surrendering to the government their responsibility to fund their own medical care, Canadians are at the same time surrendering their right to make meaningful decisions about how to live their lives and enjoy their days. But with health care, Canadians are not even granted the opportunity to decide whether they’d rather shell out for doctors and hospitals themselves in return for having the autonomy to make important life choices. Instead, every Canadian is born into the losing end of a lousy bargain: society will do a mediocre job of taking care of your health care needs, and you will let society decide whether and what you smoke, what and how much you eat, and where you drink, which leisure activities you participate in and how you protect yourself when you do. At the end of the day, it is the curtailment of individual freedom that is the most objectionable aspect of Canada’s health care regime. But the profoundly important human sense of control over one’s own destiny, once taken away, can never be fully or adequately returned. Sadly, it’s a lesson more and more generations of Canadians are beginning to learn.” Dateline - Toronto Red Star-excerpt of letter to the editor
The new Puritans righteously force-marching the rest of us into their brave new world where we will all be protected, whether we like it or not from selective kinds of bad behavior (as long as such salvations don’t impact too much of the base economy) far more dangerous to our society in their self-satisfied bigotry than any poor schmuck innocently lighting up a smoke over his beer.” George Highton Dateline - Toronto Sun Columnist Connie Woodcock
Dateline - Toronto Sun Columnist John Downing
This year they will finish smokers off with jail, fines, torture through endless lectures about second-hand smoke and, perhaps banishment. So not why fireplaces? Fireplace smoke will soon be as suspect as a fine cigar. Every child at the start of school will have to recite a pledge condemning smokers and promising to turn in their parents if they can smear a smoker in the car on the way to soccer practice”. Dateline - Toronto Sun Columnist Joe Warmington-Watch out for the fun police
Dateline - Toronto Sun-Terry Mundel president Ontario Restaurant Hotel Motel Association
In the previous edition of Tobacco News from across Canada I purposely omitted Toronto and Ontario news so the stories from other parts of Canada could be heard. In this edition I’ll be concentrating on some Ontario stories outside of Toronto. In the next Forces Canada edition I’m planning a special Toronto edition that will deal mostly with the proposed Ontario smoking ban. In this edition, I am purposely ignoring the local editorial cheerleading about the Ontario smoking ban from the Osprey publications as just mindless propaganda. I recently received an e-mail from a Forces Canada reader in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Although I was complimented for being “informative and entertaining” (I’m blushing), I was criticized for not having a commentary on a judicial ruling from Niagara Falls several months ago where a Judge criticized the smoking ban law. I believe I did mention the case, but probably did not give it the attention it deserved. In any given week, I am inundated with stories from across Canada. Due to space limitations, the stories that get mentioned due to this fact are arbitrary. I have been asked many times how a story is selected at Forces Canada. There is no hard and fast rule. I feel an obligation to mention the news from all parts of Canada-not just Toronto and Ontario. I try to find stories where I have something fresh to say, and not just keep repeating myself ad nauseum. And I try not to be too depressing. All of this is difficult considering the endless war the Liberal and NDP party, and their cheerleaders in the media regularly launch. Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
No group is more obnoxious than the Lung Association. For those of you naïve enough to buy Christmas or Easter Seals thinking it goes for a useful purpose, the following story shows where your money really goes. Canwest News Service reported that the Lung Association is monitoring smoking in movies. Among those criticized are: Dan Ackroyd, Andy Garcia in Ocean’s 12 for smoking a cigar (“if Andy Garcia doesn’t quit there won’t be an Ocean’s 13”), Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Ann Archer, Lara Flynn Boyle, Drew Barrymore, Tom Arnold, and Jim Belushi. Maybe its just me, but other than Ocean’s 12,I can’t remember seeing a movie with any of the others. How many actually saw Ben Affleck in Gigli? Anyone? For justification the Lung Association trotted out a discredited Junk Science study from Dartmouth that claimed with no real evidence that kids are likely to smoke if they see it depicted on screen. Yeah, right. Here are the exact words from the Lung Association: “Star power sells movies,” says the association on its website.” It can also sell tobacco use.” The Lung Association is trying to get cigarettes, cigars and pipes banned as movie props unless the subject of the film is a real person or historical figure. “If a movie was about Winston Churchill, it would be acceptable to portray him smoking cigars,” said Shelley Mitchell, senior manager for the Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down anti-smoking project.” Remember this the next time you are asked to by Christmas or Easter Seals or make a contribution to the Lung Association. Dateline - Niagara Falls/Windsor, Ontario
Why would they need exemptions? The anti-smoking PARASITES tell anyone who will listen that smoking bans are great for business. CBC is also reporting that Dolton and his girlie man Health Minister Smitherman are also considering exempting movie sets from the smoking ban. It’s OK to put the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ontarians in the hospitality industry at risk, but Hollywood productions in Ontario are vital. How many of these heavy smoking Hollywood types will want to shoot in smoke-free Ontario for the months needed for a movie shooting is anybody’s guess. There is no shortage of venues around the world for Hollywood to make movies in. Dateline - London, Ontario
I saw a story about a demonstration by 300 Ontario tobacco farmers in nearby Tilliston on CTV News net last week. None of the local papers in the area considered this newsworthy. The dirty little secret is Dolton doesn’t want tobacco banned in Ontario (it would cost too much money) but only” controlled”-tormenting users by having a huge patronage ridden bureaucracy dedicated to tormenting smokers is the Liberal Party way. In other news out of London, the Free Press quotes beer giant Labatts as denying it is planning to close its huge London brewery. Beer sales in the London area have plummeted since the smoking ban was imposed. Dateline - Waterloo, Ontario
The Waterloo Record is a reliable anti-smoking propaganda rag. It is very surprising that the Record deviated from its agenda to allow the two following letters to be published. Here are excerpts of both letters: “Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman’s statements about the proposed smoking legislation appear to be completely opposed to reality… Smitherman’s speech will no doubt impress fanatical anti-smokers. To the logical and fair minded, it sounds like pure bunk. What plan should we suppose Smitherman and his colleagues have in place to save face when his “fair and balanced” legislation fails to improve the health of Ontarians, unclog the hospitals, improve the economy and save jobs? One can only hope that Smitherman and his crew will be long gone from power before the futility and the negative effects of his legislation become evident.” Ann Welch “You wonder why smokers why smokers are so vehemently against the anti-smoking organizations. The Record’s letter to the editor and a column provide a good answer. On one day, Dec.29, The Record ran not one but two letters and a community editorial board column about smokers. In one letter, Smoking Is Most Deadly Form Of Substance Abuse, Dr. Paul E.Garfinkel, the president of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, put smokers in with heroin and crack addicts. Actually, its good The Record allows real feelings to show through because it enables readers to see that this issue is not about health but about control. L. Dugay Dateline - Simcoe, Ontario
The Simcoe Reformer reported that $7,000 worth of raw tobacco was stolen from a farm near Simcoe. Dateline - Thunder Bay, Ontario January 11 - It seems that Ontario has joined Manitoba and Saskatchewan in deciding that provincial governments lack the jurisdiction to impose smoking bans on Indian land. This story from Thunder Bay and the next story from Kenora are about this issue. CBC has reported that Peter Collins, Chief of the Fort William First Nation just outside of Thunder Bay has no intention of banning smoking on Indian property. The band controls a bingo and various hospitality venues. Dateline - Kenora, Ontario
According to the Daily Miner the band has no intention of banning smoking. Over the past several weeks while Forces was taking its annual Christmas break, I have been inundated with literally hundreds of stories from across Canada. What I am going to do over the next couple of submissions is split up the tobacco news from Canada into three separate parts: the tobacco news from Canada outside Ontario, the tobacco news from Ontario excluding Toronto, and a special Toronto edition that will deal mostly with opinion about the proposed Ontario smoking ban. Dateline - Halifax, Nova Scotia
None of the garbage about second-hand smoke. None of the usual lies and propaganda. How un-Canadian. In other news, the Halifax Herald reported that kids were kicked out of a hockey rink twice a week so smokers could be accommodated at a charity bingo in the same rink. The kids were never exposed to cigarette smoke, but Nova Scotia law does not allow them to be in the same building when smoking is permitted. Dateline - Woodstock, New Brunswick
For good measure the tribe is also planning to sell cheap cigarettes on the reserve. Dateline - Montreal, Quebec
The Montreal Gazette and CBC both reported that Rose Marie’s finest (R.C.M.P) spent three days searching through Imperials files looking for evidence of smuggling. No word on if they found anything. If Imperial Tobacco were guilty they would have to be the dumbest criminals in recorded history. It was Imperial itself that tipped off authorities in the first place that tobacco smuggling had reached epidemic proportions. CBC reported that Imperial voluntarily curtailed exports to combat smuggling. But this is Quebec where one doesn’t require any evidence for a glorified shakedown. Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Art Stacy, the lawyer representing the hotel owners is challenging the smoking ban on two counts. He claims the province is illegally “criminalizing smoking.” In Canada only the Federal government can criminalize an activity. His second grounds of appeal are the equality provision of the Charter of Rights. Indians are exempted. Stacy maintained this is not a theoretical exercise as business in the rural hospitality industry has declined by 25% since the smoking ban was imposed. The Winnipeg Sun also reported that a non-stop flight from Toronto to Vancouver was diverted to Loserpeg because someone was smoking in the bathroom. A 33-year-old Ontario man was arrested. The cost of this over-reaction is about $75,000 a flight for landing fees and fuel charges. No wonder Air Canada went broke. Finally from Loserpeg we have the latest from a local hypochondriac who successfully lobbied to have smoking banned from the entrances of Losepeg’s hospitals. Gerald St. Germain claimed that he was allergic to cigarette smoke. Never mind there are no allergens in cigarette smoke. The Free Press is reporting on this hypochondriac’s latest quest. He complained that people were smoking in the underground parking garage at the Winnipeg Convention Center. Automobile exhaust in an enclosed space did not bother him but someone smoking did. Riiiggghhhhttt. Dateline - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
CBC has reported that the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations voted to not implement a smoking ban on its territory, which includes casinos in Yorkton, North Battleford, Prince Albert, and on the White Bear First Nation Indian reserve near Carlyle. In an earlier story from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, the provincial N.D.P. government backed down from earlier claims and admitted it lacked jurisdiction to impose its social-engineering agenda on Indian land. Dateline - Regina, Saskatchewan
Dateline - Melford, Saskatchewan
Waneta Goldstein the hotel manager told the Journal:” We’ve given our bar staff lay off notices. There is not a lot of things you can do as a bar owner. It’s a very scary thing.” The plight of the first in what promises to be a lengthy list of layoffs attracted the attention of the Regina Leader Post and the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix which both re-printed the Melford Journal story. Dateline - Nipivan, Saskatchewan
The Nipivan Journal estimates the smoking ban is expected to cost the Saskatchewan hospitality industry $100 million a year. Dateline - Estevan, Saskatchewan
Dateline - Lloydminster, Saskatchewan/Alberta
The results of this are pretty predictable. The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reported that smokers are going on mass-literally walking across the street to the Alberta side of the town. The Star-Phoenix reported that the Lloydminster Saskatchewan hospitality industry has screamed to the provincial N.D.P. about the predictable situation. The N.D.P.just as predictably ignored their complaints, but made it clear the smoke-police will be stepping up patrols on the Saskatchewan side of the border. And not to be outdone, the Edmonton Journal, the vocal supporter of former Edmonton mayor and noted anti-smoking fanatic, Bill Smith, who lost the recent election because of his anti-smoking fanaticism, used the Lloydminster situation to call for a province-wide smoking ban in Alberta. Not only did Smith massively lose the Edmonton election, but also communities throughout Alberta voted overwhelmingly against smoking bans. Dateline - Vancouver, B.C.
Twice the B.C, Supreme Court threw out this shakedown as unconstitutional. On the B.C government’s third attempt they allowed this farce to stand. This shakedown is now before the Supreme Court. Dateline - Richmond, B.C
Dateline - Kelowna, B.C.
The Grope and Flail reported that Kelowna resident, Corrina Sables, who ”lost an hour of her life after an encounter with aliens has started a support group for those with similar extraterrestrial abductions.” Since this is B.C.it’s a good bet her support group meetings will be packed. Miss Sables told the Grope and Flail she was star-gazing when she reported seeing:” a bright neon-colored and oval shaped thing.” E.T. phone home. Your presence is desperately required in Kelowna. Dateline - Whitehorse, Yukon
Jonas Smith, who runs the Capital Hotel and is a director of the B.C/Yukon Hotel Association, told CBC: “Proprietors are supposed to inform people they are not allowed to smoke, and if that person fails to desist from smoking we are to report them to bylaw, stop serving them, stop serving anyone procuring liquor and physically remove them from the premises. “And we are doing almost none of the above.” Smith told CBC he tells customers they can’t smoke and if they persist the choice is up to them. CBC is also reporting the only place you can legally smoke in Whitehorse is at the Whitehorse general hospital. Go figure. This absurdity caught the attention of Paul Johnson. Sometime ago Mr. Johnson approached Forces Canada with a request for a lawyer to take his case and sue the city of Yukon for lost business suffered when a smoking ban was imposed. I put up the notice but there were obviously no takers. CBC North, however, is reporting that against all odds, and acting as his own lawyer Paul Johnson has gotten certification for his lawsuit against the city of Yukon. A Yukon Supreme Court Justice beginning January 20 will hear his case. Mr. Johnson who had to close his restaurant is suing for $5.6 million. Here is what he told the CBC regarding his motivation for launching the lawsuit: “It opens up a Pandora’s box for them, they could have every restaurant in town suing for lost profit revenue, for that year. Did you know that the only place in all of Whitehorse where you can legally have a cigarette is at the Whitehorse General Hospital smoking room? Now if you can have a smoke there, why can’t you have a smoke elsewhere like a bar or restaurant for that matter?” < Back To "I read the news..." > |
TOBACCO
NEWS FROM CANADA
January 31 -
Newfoundland has always been a joke and the butt of jokes to fellow
Canadians. The overall theme of Newfie jokes is that they ain’t too
bright. Before the proposal to ban smoking in Newfoundland, the Premier,
Danny Williams ordered the Canadian flag be taken down at provincial
property because the Liberals lied about equalization payments to win
seats in the last federal election. I don’t know which I find more
mystifying-the Liberals being congenital liars who will say anything for
votes-or Newfies being gullible enough to believe the lies. But I
digress.