The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter
A Section of The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter
Issue 327 - May 6, 2005
No smoking gun -ON
Smoking In Public Places -ON
Ont. won't ban power walls: activists -ON
Ipsos Reid Poll - British Columbians Strongly Support BC Government Policy Changes to Reduce Cancer Risk BC
Anti-smoking lobby fuming -ON
McGuinty smoking ban will result in severe financial harm to Charity Bingo in Ontario -ON
Drinkers and Smokers -AB
Youth rap: Ontario wrapping youth for Big Tobacco -ON
Town voice silenced at smoke-free hearings -ON
The Daffodil Ball of the Canadian Cancer Society - An exceptional success: almost $2 million raised -QC
Air Pollution Kills Estimated 5,900 Canadians Every Year -ON
Illegal smokes popular again -QC
Smokers instead 1 -AB
Smoking ban stubs out worker's rights -ON
Mayor roasted for rebel stance -NS
Smoke ban hurting children's charities, group warns -ON
Smoking mad in Tillsonburg -ON
Tobacco belt fights smoking ban bill -ON
Restaurant beats province in banning smoking -QC
Provincial smoking ban will supercede municipal bylaw -ON
Four charged in Windsor-based tobacco smuggling operation -ON
Smoke-free hearing offers few surprises -ON
Teen tobacco fans bite off all they can chew -AB
SMOKERS, INSTEAD 2
Media Advisory - Ontario Convenience Store Association -ON
McNeely amendment strengthens Smoke-Free Ontario Act -ON
Ex-mayor gives up smoking area fight -ON
Barbecue eatery all fired up for carnivores -ON
Youth need to catch up on reality -ON
Residents appeal crematorium -ON
Legion going smoke-free -AB
Smoking ban: City deserves a public hearing -ON
No smoking gun -ON
The Mississauga News Apr 27, 2005
Dear Editor:
It appears our government, along with the anti-tobacco lobby, is perpetuating a fraud on the people concerning second-hand smoke by paying the media to push their agenda against tobacco.
The press carries a disclaimer that they reserve the right to refuse any advertisement, so why do they continue to vilify tobacco with no evidence?
On a government T.V. ad a woman named Heather Crowe states she had been a waitress for 40 years and is dying because of second-hand smoke. How do we know she is telling the truth? A 40-year study published by the very credible New England Journal of Medicine suggests she is not what she appears to be -- it stated second-hand smoke is not that dangerous.
The government is being openly hostile to people who smoke with its humiliating ad entitled "stupid.ca" depicting them as stupid. That is unethical.
The government doesn't have a mandate to vilify anyone with fraudulent claims.
James Vanderven, Tillsonburg
http://www.metroland.com/mi/opinion/letter/story/2742215p-3174237c.html
Smoking In Public Places -ON
It’s a small favour to ask
Wednesday April 27, 2005
The St. Thomas smoking lobby hit the streets to take on the recently enacted city bylaw which effectively bans smoking in places such as restaurants, bars and the Royal Canadian Legion
So far there have been street protests by smokers who feel their rights are being trampled upon, emotional exchanges of words and bar owners complaining of a drastic decline in business.
Anti-smoking bylaws were not invented in St. Thomas. There are cities all across Ontario, including London, which beat St. Thomas to the punch in developing pro-health, anti-smoking regulations. These bylaws are always initially met with resistance from the ever shrinking smokers community, and always the complaints are predictably the same: trampled rights, loss of customers. In every situation once the law becomes an unshakable reality, the complaints diminish and the loss of business is found to be temporary as long as the bylaws are enforced equally and fairly across the board.
Despite the ongoing anger expressed by many smokers about their right to smoke in places like bars, the fact of the matter is, this bylaw actually helps protect the rights of the majority of the population, i.e. non-smokers. The bylaw may inconvenience smokers by sending them outside for a puff, but it does help reduce the chance of the rest of the population, especially bar staff, from developing such fatal diseases as lung cancer. It seems somewhat silly for the majority of the population to suffer due to the unhealthy habit of a few.
While no one is actively demanding anyone to kick their smoking habit, perhaps it’s time for those who are involved in the St. Thomas smoking lobby, to start being more civic minded and just go outside. It’s five minutes of a little inconvenience that could help save someone’s life.
http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/index.php?id=849
Ont. won't ban power walls: activists -ON
Broadcast News Wednesday, April 27, 2005
TORONTO -- The Ontario government is bowing to demands from the tobacco industry.
That, today from an anti-smoking group that fears proposed tobacco legislation is being weakened by industry pressure.
The Non-Smokers' Rights Association wants the Liberals to stand by an election promise and eliminate convenience store cigarette displays.
The group says the so-called power walls -- the massive display of cigarettes behind the cash register -- send the wrong message to children.
Association executive director Garfield Mahood says the tobacco lobby has gotten to the Liberal government.
Mahood says that's why the government won't ban power walls outright.
Premier Dalton McGuinty says the issue is still before committee.
McGuinty says regulations to control power walls can be invoked afterwards, if the legislation passes.
Ipsos Reid Poll - British Columbians Strongly Support BC Government Policy Changes to Reduce Cancer Risk BC
VANCOUVER, April 27 /CNW/ - According to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for the Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division (CCS), to see if British Columbians would support the CCS' following three advocacy positions.
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/27/c1286.html
Anti-smoking lobby fuming -ON
ROB FERGUSON QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU Apr. 28, 2005. 01:00 AM
Province accused of breaking pledge
`Power wall' tobacco displays opposedThe Ontario government is poised to break a promise to ban "power wall" displays of cigarettes in stores, anti-smoking activists warn.
"We are sounding the alarm," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers Rights Association, calling the racks of cigarettes behind store cash registers the last bastion of tobacco advertising and an invitation for youngsters to smoke.
Mahood charged that the government has an "understanding" with the tobacco industry that will see the proposed Smoke-Free Ontario Act ban countertop displays of tobacco but allow display walls in some form.
Health Minister George Smitherman called that claim "outrageous" given the stringent anti-tobacco measures in the bill, which would outlaw smoking everywhere but at home and outdoors, with few exceptions, starting May 31, 2006.
But he acknowledged "there is the capacity to make our bill even stronger on the point of power walls," which have already been outlawed in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Although the Liberal campaign promise called for a "ban (on) behind-the-counter retail displays of tobacco products," the legislation introduced in December doesn't go that far.
Instead, it allows the government to control the size of "power walls" through regulations — which do not have to be approved by the Legislature.
That has raised concerns that the Liberals may quietly try to let "power walls" remain in some form after making a decision "behind closed doors," Mahood said.
"If we let this one go ... they will create a loophole big enough for a cigarette truck to drive through."
Smitherman said he's keeping an "open mind" on the issue until a legislative committee finishes public hearings on the bill today and tomorrow, and noted the legislation was written before the Saskatchewan ban survived a court challenge.
Convenience-store owners appeared before the committee last week, saying they could lose thousands of dollars in revenue without power walls — because tobacco companies pay them thousands of dollars for the walls — and would have trouble finding storage space for cigarette packages without them.
Smitherman has fingered smoking as Ontario's number one preventable cause of death, costing the health-care system $1.7 billion annually.
88774&col=968350116467&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
McGuinty smoking ban will result in severe financial harm to Charity Bingo in Ontario -ON
Funding at risk for 4000 charities and 3.5 million Ontarians
TORONTO, April 28 /CNW/ - Today, the worst fears of Ontario's charity bingo and the charity and community organizations they fund were outlined as The Committee to Save Charity Bingo (CSCB) appeared at Queen's Park to request that the McGuinty government rethink its proposed full smoking ban in charity bingos across the province."We need charity bingo funds to continue to provide vital budget planning and debt repayment services to approximately 300 low-income residents and their families in Toronto each year," said Karen Bass, Executive Director of Coping in Tough Times (CITT). "Over the years, funding has been withdrawn from the City, Province and United Way for a variety of reasons and we have come to be dependent upon revenues from bingo sessions to continue these important programs in our community. Without this source of funding, the agency would have no alternative but to cease operations in our community."
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/28/c1842.html
Drinkers and Smokers -AB
Editorial Thu, April 28, 2005
WHAT IS the world coming to where it will be illegal to smoke a cigarette in public but not smoke a joint? Has our government lost its mind? Why can't the government of Canada look at the damage drinking does instead and outlaw that? There are more deaths caused by drinkers than by smokers - whether it be cigarettes or pot. Second-hand smoke is not good, but what about the violence that people go through from drinkers and the families that are destroyed?
C. Bond
(Not all drinkers are violent.)http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Letters/
Youth rap: Ontario wrapping youth for Big Tobacco -ON
Youth from five cities bring message to Queen's Park: Smoke power walls!
TORONTO, April 28 /CNW/ - Youth from across Ontario will gather on the steps of Queen's Park and rap their message to the government - Burn da walls, stop smoking before it starts!http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/28/c1615.html
Windsor shut out of smoke hearings ON
Councillors angry after snub by Ontario panel
Brian Cross Windsor Star April 29, 2005
Windsor, whose casino, racetrack, bingos and bars stand to be most devastated by the province's proposed smoking ban, has been shut out of four days of hearings that end today.
"It's totally ludicrous given the fact this is going to impact Windsor the most, by far,"city Coun. Alan Halberstadt said Thursday.
He and Coun. David Cassivi, who sit on a task force of charity and business representatives worried about the smoking ban legislation, are bringing a motion to council Monday asking the province to "at least have a hearing here."
The group was notified April 19 that four days of hearings on the smoking ban would start April 21 in Toronto. "I went to call the next day, and they said: 'You missed the deadline, it was noon today,'" said Bill Baker, policy adviser to Mayor Eddie Francis.
He tried to get time for the Windsor committee on the hearing's last day, today in Tillsonburg, but was turned down without any explanation, Baker said.
Casino revenues are likely to dramatically decline if Windsor's casino goes no-smoking, say gambling analysts.
They predict declines because 80 per cent of its customers are American, approximately 40 per cent of them smoke and there are three Detroit casinos -- which were given the go-ahead Thursday to proceed with impressive permanent facilities -- that would welcome them with open arms.
The bingos, which provide revenue to about 800 charities and non-profit groups, are in a similar competitive boat, Halberstadt said.
"It's pretty outrageous if you ask me. We're in a very unique situation in Windsor, unlike any other in Canada and they wouldn't even give us 10 minutes at a hurry-up hearing in Tillsonburg."
Liberal MPP Peter Fonseca, parliamentary assistant to Health Minister George Smitherman, said the small number of hearing dates and the locations of Toronto, Oshawa and Tillsonburg were the result of negotiations between the three main parties. Each party got to select one-third of the delegations, he said, and the Liberals selected the public health advocates, physician groups and youth groups that would support their legislation.
The legislation would ban smoking in all public places, including restaurants, bars, bingos and casinos. Although it will be reviewed following the hearings, Smitherman has made it clear that exemptions create a domino effect, said Fonseca.
"If we said the casinos are exempt, then the bingo halls would want to be exempt, and then restaurants, and it would go on and on," he said.
"This is really about protecting the health of Ontarians."
The legislation is supposed to go into effect in June 2006. While Essex County already bans smoking in public places and workplaces, Windsor's bylaw allows smoking in bars, bingos, and gaming establishments.
"Smokers do not go out as often when there are smoking bans, they don't go to pubs, to casinos, and when they do go out, they don't spend as much time there," said Nancy Daigneault, president of mychoice.ca, a smokers' rights group funded by the tobacco industry. She recently released government documents -- notes to the Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Joe Cordiano -- that cite various examples of the impact of smoking bans on gaming operations. They state smoking bans result in drops in casino revenues, including a 20-per-cent drop in Winnipeg, a 10-per- cent decline at Quebec casinos; and a 25-per-cent drop at two casinos in Nevada that tried to go smoke-free in the 1990s to attract new business but quickly changed their minds.
Indeed, gambling analysts can't think of a single large casino in the U.S. that is smoke-free. When Delaware passed no-smoking legislation, racetrack slots operations suffered a 20-per-cent decline, said analyst Marvin Roffman. Casino executives shudder at the thought of smoking bans, and not just because fewer gamblers enter their establishments.
"What smoking bans do is what casinos hate more than anything else, which is when a player interrupts his play to go outside to smoke," Roffman said.
"You go out and have a smoke, you might think, 'Gee, I'm really behind here, I'm walking out.'"
http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=db92945f-b3ac-4a68-b7e3-7bf23b67ddbd
Town voice silenced at smoke-free hearings -ON
Mayor, chamber, others denied opportunity to speak
Jeff Helsdon - Staff Writer Friday April 29, 2005
The Tillsonburg News — Tillsonburg businesspeople were shut out of the Smoke-Free Ontario hearings held in town today.
The provincial government’s Finance and Economic Affairs Committee are holding hearings into Bill 164, otherwise known as the Smoke-Free Ontario legislation, at the Special Events Centre today. Hearings started at 9 a.m. and continued through to 4 p.m., with 24 speakers making presentations.
The speakers ranged from the the Middlesex-London Health Unit and The Ontario Lung Association to the Pub and Bar Coalition and Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association. Representatives of both the Delhi German Hall and Delhi Belgian Hall were on the list, as was Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board Chairman Fred Neukamm, but no local businesses made the list. Of the 92 applications to speak, seven were from Tillsonburg and area businesses or establishments. These included Mayor Stephen Molnar, Henry Scholten of Agraturf Equipment Services Inc., Chrissy’s Corner Store owner Chris Rosehart, Carl Cowden of the Tillsonburg Royal Canadian Legion Legion, Mad Trapper’s owner Dan Efstatheu and Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Gilvesy.
Molnar said it was “disheartening” and “considerably disappointing” the host municipality wasn’t allowed to make a presentation to the committee in its own facility. The mayor intended to outline to the committee how the downturn in tobacco has cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost assessment and jobs. At the same time, he said there is a non-appreciation of the lost business by government financial assistance planners.
Molnar is suggesting the government OK a second public meeting to hear the input of the Tillsonburg-area businesses not allowed to present today, as well as others denied that opportunity. Molnar said he would facilitate the meeting if necessary.
Gilvesy, who hadn’t been informed she wasn’t on the list of approved speakers, until contacted for an interview, was surprised and disappointed no Tillsonburg businesses made the agenda.
“I thought the whole intent of having the hearings in Tillsonburg was to get some input on how the legislation affected the whole economy,” she said.
With Tillsonburg bars likely to suffer when the legislation comes into play, and the tobacco industry in a downturn, Gilvesy said the town has suffered a “double knock-out.”
“It’s coming at a bad time for our town,” she said.
Although Gilvesy was making the presentation in her role as president of the local chamber of commerce, she said the slowdown in tobacco has already affected Morris Jenkins and Gilvesy, the law firm she is a partner in. About 20 to 25 per cent of the firm’s clients are farmers.
“I can tell you it’s hit home here,” she said. “There’s not as many farms changing hands and it affects estate planning.”
In her presentation, she wanted to say the scope of the legislation is too far reaching.
“As a business organization, the chamber feels it should be up to the marketplace and the businesses to determine what goes in those businesses,” she said.
Gilvesy also believes Ontario growers are trying to produce safer tobacco, giving examples of kiln conversions to reduce nitrosamines and farmers using fewer pesticides than in other countries. She said the use of imported tobacco is increasing, both through imports by Canadian manufacturers and smuggling.
“If they want smoke-free let’s make sure first what they’re smoking is a legal product,” she said.
Scholten was also surprised local businesses wouldn’t be represented at the hearings. He only found out he wouldn’t be speaking after phoning the committee clerk Thursday.
At one time the local John Deere dealer depended on tobacco for 50 per cent of its business. This year he estimated it would only be 10 to 20 per cent. The result is sales will be down by 16 per cent and expenses up by 21 per cent. Scholten attributed increasing expenses to: higher taxes, an increase in fuel price, spending more money on advertising to make up the lost business, trying new products and having to meet new safety standards in its shops.
“The feeling I get is if you’re outside Toronto they’re trying to throttle small business,” he said.
Agraturf has been in business since 1974 and has grown from a four-man operation to the present 99 employees. The company purchases inventory from manufacturers in 11 other municipalities across Ontario.
“There’s a lot of livelihoods riding on this,” he said.
Toby Barrett, Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP, said one representative of each party was allowed to choose eight names for the hearings. The names were then submitted to the clerk, who made the final list. Barrett’s list included Molnar and Efstatheu.
Barrett and Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman - who is not part of the committee but will be in attendance - plan to ask that Molnar be allowed to speak. In addition, Barrett has drawn up a petition asking for more hearing dates and plans to move a motion more days be allowed.http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/story.php?id=157764
The Daffodil Ball of the Canadian Cancer Society - An exceptional success: almost $2 million raised -QC
MONTREAL, April 29 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canadian Cancer Society, Quebec Division, is proud to announce that the Daffodil Ball, the gala evening held last night in Montreal with 660 elite guests in attendance, raised the record amount of $1.985 million dollars (in net revenue), in one single and unique evening.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/29/c2475.html
Air Pollution Kills Estimated 5,900 Canadians Every Year -ON
OTTAWA, April 29 /CNW Telbec/ - Health Canada today released an updated estimate of the number of deaths that can be attributed to air pollution.
Based on data from eight Canadian cities, the estimate is 5,900 deaths per year.
The number is slightly higher than the previous estimate of 5,000, which was in effect until 2002 when scientists at Health Canada and Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. discovered a statistical glitch in the model used to calculate such figures.http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/29/c2408.html
Illegal smokes popular again -QC
CBC News Apr 29 2005
MONTREAL – Contraband cigarette sales are once again on the rise. This time, tax-free smokes manufactured on native reserves are hot items.According to a Radio-Canada investigation, even though the cigarettes can legally be sold on only native reserves, they are on sale at downtown Montreal convenience stores.
By way of example, a pack of Native brand cigarettes sells for $4, while a pack of Du Maurier, on which all taxes have been added, costs about $8.50.
To buy contraband cigarettes is illegal, and could result in a $2,000 fine, yet the practice is more and more common.
Police are seeing a clear rise in the sale of contraband tobacco.
Complaints of the illegal sales have gone up by up to 25 per cent from the number of complaints last year, Guy Ryan, of the organized crime division of the Montreal police, told Radio-Canada.
Even though police may seize the cigarettes near the native reserves, a significant amount of illegal tobacco ends up being sold in dépanneurs or even in the workplace by well-organized networks.
The current situation is comparable to the situation back in 1994, when illegal tobacco sales hit their peak in Quebec. Tobacco products free of numerous applied taxes translated into a loss of more than $50 million for the Quebec government alone that year.
http://montreal.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=qc-cigs20050429
Smokers instead 1 -AB
Friday April 29/05
SMOKERS, INSTEAD of wasting your money on cigarettes, give it to causes that fight pollution, poverty and crime. The only places benefiting from your habit are the sewers and garbage dumps.
Shannon Houle
http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Letters/
Smoking ban stubs out worker's rights -ON
National Post Page: FP19 Fri 29 Apr 2005
Financial Post: Comment Karen Bodirsky
If ever there was a case of the government choosing a politically expedient steamroller where a fly swatter would have done the job, Ontario Bill 164 is it. The pending legislation, for anyone who has been held captive in a smoke-free bubble for the past year, will ban smoking in all public places as of May 31, 2006. Public places include all bars and pubs, restaurants, casinos, private clubs, health care facilities, sports arenas, entertainment venues, work vehicles and offices, including government buildings, bingo and legion halls. For the hospitality industry, this is a disaster.
Bill 164 will eliminate the ventilated smoking rooms built at considerable expense by many bars and pubs. It will make adult establishments inhospitable places for those who choose to smoke, driving smokers out of their favourite pubs and into smoke-filled basements.
The legislation, according to Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman, is intended to meet three objectives: prevention, cessation and protection.
Prevention, one can safely assume, is best achieved through education, by teaching young people what everyone should already know: Smoking is an unhealthy habit; don't start.
Cessation addresses the issue of current smokers -- a smaller percentage of the population each year as people make a conscious decision to stop smoking, whether for their health or other reasons. Cessation, as anyone who has lived with a smoker can tell you, is not achieved by telling people they can smoke here but not there. It is a conscious, very personal decision.
And then there is protection, the third pillar of the minister's attempt to redefine the airborne landscape of the province. Mr. Smitherman has insisted that the sweeping nature of Bill 164 is what's required to ensure worker safety by removing any risk of exposure to second-hand smoke. However, is Bill 164 the answer? More important, why has a bill been introduced that supposedly governs worker safety while directly contradicting the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)?
As a practical matter, there is no such thing as a risk-free event or endeavour. The issue is one of risk management. This is particularly true in relation to workplace activities. Normally, government takes a "proportionality" approach to balance between competing legitimate interests. This addresses the question of whether other regulatory measures are available that intrude less on fundamental rights and freedoms without outright prohibiting an activity.
For decades now, successive Ontario governments of all political stripes have taken this approach to the protection of worker safety from the risks and hazards that result from the use of toxic substances in the workplace. The OHSA provides for toxic substances that are considered very hazardous to be "designated." A specific regulation exists to regulate and control each of the 11 designated substances, which include such particularly hazardous toxic substances as arsenic, asbestos, benzene, isocyanates, lead, mercury and silica. The regulatory approach under OHSA to "designated" or particularly hazardous substances also gives workers the authority and responsibility to make significant informed decisions with respect to possible workplace risks to the worker's own health.
The regulatory approach reflected in the Smoke-Free Ontario legislative initiative is a significant departure from this long-standing and successful approach to protecting workers from exposure to hazardous substances. The legislation deviates substantially from a "proportionality" approach to regulate and control worker exposure to "environmental tobacco smoke" in the workplace. The initiative contradicts itself on the question of whether there are protective measures available that are less invasive of an individual's rights and freedoms with respect to the use of a legal product, from both a worker and consumer perspective, aside from an outright prohibition, and yet still effectively regulate, control and protect health and safety in the workplace.
The legislation itself indicates that less intrusive measures are available without an outright ban on smoking in the workplace. Those measures include the designated smoking rooms that will be permitted, for example, in seniors' residences.
Bill 164 represents a marked and unwarranted departure from the "proportionality" approach that has been successfully used by the OHSA to protect workers -- an act that was introduced by a previous Liberal government in Ontario.
To sum up: Less is more when it comes to good government, except, of course, in the current political climate in Ontario, where more government and more intrusion on personal liberties are considered the only acceptable solutions to any perceived problem.
http://www.canada.com/search/story.html?id=bc5fa21b-9e4d-4a8e-b3e6-bc681f146d8a
Mayor roasted for rebel stance -NS
CBRM council, Morgan clash
By TERA CAMUS / Cape Breton Bureau The Halifax Herald Limited Saturday, April 30, 2005
SYDNEY - Mayor John Morgan says he won't play the game that has dominated Cape Breton politics for decades, and he paid a price for it Friday.
The mayor endured a daylong roasting by his council over his lone-horse leadership style.
But Mr. Morgan made no apologies for bucking a political system in which many of his predecessors smiled, shook hands with federal and provincial officials and thanked them for chunks of cash for various projects while staggering unemployment and out-migration ravaged the region.
"Our area is dying," Mr. Morgan said Friday.
"We have the highest rate of population decline in the country and the second-highest poverty rate in Canada, and it's increasing, so the suggestion by the federal and provincial governments that we've turned the corner is a complete misrepresentation of the facts.
"There's pressure on all of us to play that game. But I have to deliver the message and tell residents the truth . . . that this community is on a disastrous course."
Mr. Morgan said he expects personal attacks and active campaigning to remove him from office, as was the case in last October's municipal elections. He instead won 80 per cent voter support.
Mr. Morgan said the federal Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. wields most of the power in Cape Breton, power that is open to abuse.
"A federal bureaucrat is using federal money to prop up an individual party," Mr. Morgan said of Rick Beaton, the top ECBC bureaucrat who he alleged has approved millions of dollars for Liberal-friendly projects.
Anyone who speaks out against ECBC will be punished, the mayor said - including businesses and community groups looking for government financial support.
Mr. Morgan said his outspokenness against other politicians and bureaucrats in recent years has resulted in him repeatedly being shut out of news announcements while others were nixed because he wouldn't sign his name to news releases.
"The whole community operates under a reign of terror," Mr. Morgan said.
Mr. Beaton refused to make any statement until Monday.
"We weren't present at the meeting and had no advance notice of a controversy involving us," said his spokesman, D.A. Landry. "We don't want to react to hearsay, so until we get a better understanding of what was said, we won't be making comment."
Mr. Landry refused to say whether news conferences were rearranged because Mr. Morgan might show up.
Mr. Morgan's council put him on the hot seat Friday under the guise of a personnel matter. But it wasn't about hiring a secretary for councillors or even updating the impending lawsuit against the province over an alleged $20-million annual shortfall in equalization funding.
It was about Mr. Morgan not returning phone calls, or refusing to meet in private with council to discuss issues informally over coffee, something not permitted under the Municipal Government Act.
Deputy Mayor Claire Detheridge explained councillors are frustrated because they can't answer some questions the public asks, such as on the status of the lawsuit.
"We look like idiots on a daily basis," she said. "We're not working together, we're not on the same page.
"Everyone is going in different directions ... and someone has to bring this community together as one."
Coun. Vince Hall said the problem with the mayor is that "he won't play the game."
Mr. Morgan refused to attend a meeting of the ECBC-funded Cape Breton Business Partnership - whose member companies have received millions - and speak about how Cape Breton has turned the corner economically. Instead, he wrote a letter thanking the partnership's leaders for supporting his opponent in the last election.
"You don't go to war with our parents, we have to function in that system," Mr. Hall said. "If you want to be a one-man show, you need to leave.
"I think it's gone to your head that you got 80 per cent support.
"You don't have a mandate to do whatever the hell you want."
Coun. Frankie Morrison of New Waterford said an ECBC official asked him last fall to get coffee and doughnuts for 50 people to attend a news conference about the town getting cash for the Colliery Lands park.
About 10 minutes after Mr. Morrison told the ECBC official he had invited Mr. Morgan, the official cancelled the news conference and held a private photo shoot for one media outlet at a different location.
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/04/30/f130.raw.html
Smoke ban hurting children's charities, group warns -ON
Laurie Watt
Orillia's smoking ban in bingo halls is hurting children's programs, says the president of the Gates of Orillia Bingo Association. The association's 36 groups have noticed their cheques are about half the size they used to be.
That is, before Orillia's smoking ban outlawed smoking in bingo halls.
"If you do just one session a month, you've lost $7,200 per year," said association president Ellen MacDonald, who's also the Wee Watch area supervisor.
For her agency, that loss translates into fewer field trips for the children - such as a visit to a farm - as well as less-interesting training for providers.
"It means not as much hands-on programming for the children. Rather than experiencing it, they're getting (the information) through books," said MacDonald, adding the agency's Scholastic book program has also been severely curtailed. That means the agency can't give out books to kids, which will hurt the agency's literacy program. And, added MacDonald, her agency just did one bingo session a month.
There are agencies that will feel an even bigger hit. What most of the agencies have in common is kids - and they can't turn to Casino Rama for grants, to make up the loss, as the casino's mandate does not include supporting children.
Gates of Orillia manager Bonnie Johnston said the hall had urged Orillia council to level the playing field - that is, allow smoking in bingo halls until Jan. 1, 2007, when halls in Barrie will have to go smoke-free. "Penetanguishene also allows smoking," she said, noting the provincial ban will likely outlaw smoking in mid-2006. The important thing is to be consistent, to keep Orillia players in town.
From the decreased profits, it's clear they're heading to Barrie or Penetanguishene, or they're opting to play fewer games in Orillia, she said. "They're coming later, because they can't smoke. They don't come as frequently."
She's working on creative ways to lure back the bingo players. The hall's former non-smoking room has just been renovated and is available for parties.
http://www.simcoe.com/sc/orillia/story/2749684p-3181890c.html
Smoking mad in Tillsonburg -ON
By Michael-Allan Marion Local News - Saturday, April 30, 2005 @ 01:00
While a legislative committee was collecting views on the McGuinty government’s Smoke-Free Ontario legislation Friday, different people were trooping quietly into another room of the same building to bid to get out of a declining industry.
“It is ironic, sad actually, that as I stand before you today, in this former tobacco auction exchange, farmers are submitting bids to exit tobacco farming forever,” Fred Neukamm, chairman of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board, told the standing committee on finance and economic affairs in the Tillsonburg Special Events Centre.
The people Neukamm was referring to were tobacco growers from Norfolk, Brant, Oxford and Elgin counties who drove to the building with their bids in a reverse auction process set up for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s $67.1-million tobacco adjustment assistance program for those leaving the embattled crop sector.
The three-day auction, with a minimum federal bid price of 85 cents per pound, closes today.
Successful bidders will notified between Monday and Friday of this week.
After that, funds from a complementary $50-million Ontario government program will be allocated on a pro-rata basis on the pounds of quota that have been removed by the federal auction.Of the provincial share, $35 million will go toward the immediate buyout, while $15 million will be will be administered by existing Community Futures Development Corporations in the tobacco growing region to encourage long-term, sustainable economic development.
“Although the funds on the table are insufficient to resolve the crisis in the tobacco-growing region, it is in the best interests of our growers to move forward with the program,” said Neukamm.
“In our opinion, this is the first step in the evolution of a long-term plan for the tobacco industry and we are pleased that dollars will soon flow to those farmers who opt into this program and are successful bidders.”
In a reverse auction, the government pays out all the quota of the lowest bidders first and moves up the price scale until all the program’s money is gone. The process actually pits growers against each other.
The buyout is regarded largely with heavy hearts by growers in Norfolk, Brant, Oxford and Elgin counties who have been hit by five successive years of crop target declines, shrinking margins, a difficult 2004-2005 market and growing debt in many cases.
“It’s a very difficult thing to do -- It’s been our life,” Arden Koptik of Simcoe said as she dropped off a bid, hoping to surrender quota on the 50 acres of tobacco the family grows every year, and plow the money into the agri-tourism business they’ve been building over the past few years.
“Trying to set a price is really difficult,” said Koptik. “What if you set a price and the lowest is only one cent below it? You’re out of the running.”
How many growers will end up getting buyouts will not be known for a few weeks yet.
The board represents approximately 770 flue-cured tobacco growers, down from almost 1,100 in 1998. During the same period, revenues to tobacco producers dropped by approximately $140 million. The 2004 crop was set at 87.9 million pounds, down from 94.1 million pounds in 2003, and from 154.9 million pounds in 1997.
The crop target will likely suffer another decline this year, partially due to the buyout program.
The imminent flow of departure cash is coming at the beginning of the growing season, leaving farmers with little time to make important calculations and business decisions.
It also follows a six-month period of grower angst that led many of them to join protests at the board’s head office in Tillsonburg and tractor rallies on Highway 401 and in Toronto, buttressed by such activist groups as Rural Revolution and the Lanark Landowners Association.
The efforts were part of a bid to gain public sympathy following a delay of more than a year in the Ontario Liberal government’s promise of a compensation package in the the 2003 election campaign.
With the buyout now a reality, Neukamm said the board’s lobbying efforts are focusing on the interests of those who will remain in what is left of the crop sector.
“The board will now intensify its efforts to develop a comprehensive strategy for the long term with the federal and provincial governments and manufacturers,” he said.
“We are very pleased that both federal agriculture minister Any Mitchell and provincial minister Steve Peters have agreed to enter into discussions on solution for the industry and we believe they should begin immediately.”
Tobacco belt fights smoking ban bill -ON
MPPs heard from opponents of the law and backers at a Tillsonburg hearing.
KATE SCHWASS, Special to The Free Press 2005-04-30 02:36:34
TILLSONBURG -- Smokers are being treated like criminals and local bars and restaurants will be destroyed if Ontario's anti-smoking legislation passes, a committee of MPPs was told yesterday.
The final public hearing on a proposed bill to ban smoking in public places and workplaces came to the heart of tobacco country yesterday.
Oxford County and neighbouring Norfolk County are home to the majority of the province's 800 tobacco farmers.
If passed, Ontario's Bill 164 will prohibit smoking in workplaces and in enclosed public places such as restaurants, bars, private clubs and arenas.
The ban would take effect May 31, 2006.
Anne VanKerrebroeck, president of the Delhi Belgian Club, said it's time smokers and farmers speak up.
"A government overrun by a non-smokers group and their one-sided ideas is trying to bulldoze the smokers off the edge of the earth, without being given one chance to be heard or voice an opinion," she told the committee of MPPs.
"We personally think that the smokers, including tobacco farmers, have been silent too long and now we are being threatened almost as criminals."
Carl Bowden, a member of Tillsonburg's Royal Canadian Legion, said Legions and private clubs should be allowed to make their own rules.
Banning smoking in Legion halls would infringe on veterans' rights, he said.
"This form of discipline is not what was in the mind of veterans who contributed to the freedom of this country as they were offering their lives for all our sakes."
Other speakers who addressed the committee supported the provincewide smoking ban.
Dr. Graham Pollett, medical officer of health for Middlesex-London, said it's important young people get the message smoking is unhealthy.
"It's absolutely critical children understand smoking is not just a cool thing to do."
Katrina Richter and Lloyd Fischer, who attend Laurier secondary school in London, told the committee young people think smoking is glamorous because of marketing by tobacco companies.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/04/30/1019436-sun.html
Restaurant beats province in banning smoking -QC
CBC News May 2 2005
MONTREAL – Don't go looking for the smoking section at the local St-Hubert restaurant.
The chicken rotisserie chain no longer allows smoking in any of its 88 restaurants across the province.
Management studied the plan long and hard before implementing it. They looked at the impact the move made in its New Brunswick restaurants, where the laws forbid smoking in restaurants, and decided to beat the Quebec government to the punch.
Premier Jean Charest's Liberals are set to introduce a bill in the National Assembly which will ban smoking in all public places across the province, including restaurants.
It is expected to become law by this fall or spring of 2006.
The public reacted warmly when St-Hubert announced in January its restaurants would be completely smoke-free as of May 1, says Jean-Pierre Léger, chief executive officer of the restaurant chain. In fact, he says, sales have gone up four per cent since the announcement.
Léger admits he is actually surprised by how well the change is being accepted. He says not only customers, but also employees who didn't like working in the smoking section are happy with the change.
Kudos from group
The Quebec Restaurant Association says that as long as food is being served, smoking should be banned, in order to achieve a level playing field among different types of establishments.
The group is applauding St-Hubert's move, but notes that the Quebec government should give itself time to carry out a wide campaign before implementing a smoking ban in public places, says spokesperson Hans Brouillette.
The best case scenario would be if Quebec implemented a smoking ban at the same time as Ontario, in May 2006, Brouillette says.
That way, the government would have time to get the word out, and smokers will have a chance to ease in to the change by being able to smoke outside during the warmer months.
http://montreal.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=qc-sthub20050502
Provincial smoking ban will supercede municipal bylaw -ON
By Bradley Monday May 02, 2005
Hinton Parklander — The Alberta government passed a private members bill April 25 that bans smoking in restaurants where children are present. The bill is very similar to Hinton’s municipal smoking bylaw, which took effect April 1. Business owners across the province will have to decide between allowing youth or smokers into their premises.
One difference is that the provincial guidelines apply to all businesses with the exception of bars, casinos and bingo halls.
“What it will do is put a blanket law in place province wide,” said Lloyd Carr, senior manager for tobacco reduction and problem gambling with Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC).
As of right now, only 86 out of about 350 municipalities in Alberta have a smoking bylaw in place.
The new law will be the bare minimum municipalities must abide by, but they can add their own bylaws to make the ban even stronger.
The bill received third reading and still needs the formality of royal assent and proclamation. That could take anywhere from a couple of months to a year to happen.
“I’m hoping it will get proclaimed as soon as possible,” Carr said.
So far, the bill doesn’t address ventilated or separate smoking rooms and Carr said some details still need to be worked out.
West Yellowhead MLA Ivan Strang said he heard a wide variety of opinions about the proposed bill before he voted. He said that throughout the debate there was one overriding factor.
“We wanted to make sure we weren’t endangering young people,” he said.
He said the ban is a good first step and more could be done in the future.
He added that he believes the bill will be rubber stamped sooner rather than later.
Olympia restaurant manager, Vicky Salmas said she was surprised to hear about the provincial legislation. Her restaurant has adapted well to the new town bylaw because they have a separate smoking lounge in the basement and they can allow minors into the restaurant until 9 p.m. each night.
Other businesses, without the luxury of a separate smoking room, have had to exclude either children or smokers during different times of the day.
Starting July 1 Edmonton is extending its smoking ban to include all businesses. Bars, casinos and bingo halls are included.http://www.hintonparklander.com/story.php?id=158130
Four charged in Windsor-based tobacco smuggling operation -ON
WINDSOR, ON, May 2 /CNW/ - As a result of a five-month investigation into the smuggling of Egyptian water pipe tobacco, members of the Windsor RCMP Customs and Excise section, in conjunction with Canada Border Services Agency, have charged four people with offences relating to smuggling.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2005/02/c3009.html
Smoke-free hearing offers few surprises -ON
Mayor allowed short statement
Stephan Kleiser - Staff Writer Monday May 02, 2005
The Tillsonburg News — The fourth and final hearing on Bill 164, also known as the smoke-free Ontario legislation, which came to Tillsonburg Friday, offered few surprises.
There were none of the large, vocal groups of farmers or protesters seen at previous gatherings dealing with the crisis in tobacco and, since the vast majority of speakers were not from this area, the crowd at the Tillsonburg’s Special Event Centre was also smaller than many had anticipated. And of course, as Fred Neukamm, chair of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board pointed out, had the meetings been held three weeks earlier there would have been 1,500 concerned farmers in attendance. Now, those farmers are in their fields trying to earn an honest living.
Although he wasn’t on the list of speakers, Tillsonburg Mayor Stephen Molnar was allowed to bring greetings from the municipality, something Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman commented on.
But his remarks about the government for “allowing” the mayor of a municipality to bring greetings but not letting him speak about his concerns for his town, were quickly shot down by another board member who pointed out Hardeman had done nothing to put the mayor on the alternate list of speakers.
Molnar used his opportunity to comment on the importance of the industry to the area and likened the industry’s demands for fairness to Ontario’s repeated calls for fair treatment from the federal government.
In making his comments, Molnar had to tread a fine line between making his point and being called out of order by the chairman.
But Pat Hoy, Liberal MPP for the riding of Essex-Kent who is chair of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs which held the hearings, allowed him some leeway.
Molnar said it was ironic that the same building that just a few years ago was the auction exchange for the tobacco board, now hosted meetings on legislation that may impose further hardships on that same industry.
“We are a small, rural community and we will be severely impacted by anti-smoking policy,” Molnar said.
He said he had no problem with anti-smoking efforts, but when they become anti-tobacco efforts it hurts the community and the entire area.
He quoted the premier calling Ontarians proud Canadians who just want to be treated fairly by their federal government, adding Tillsonburg residents are proud Ontarians and just want to be treated fairly by the Ontario government.
Carl Cowden, of Tillsonburg Royal Canadian Legion was allowed to speak, following a point of order by Conservative board member Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk Brant, who suggested the committee allow Cowden to substitute for a member from another legion who was unable to attend and make his presentation.
Cowden thanked committee for the opportunity and said the key argument brought forth by the legion is that they are to be treated as private clubs and as such should be allowed to make their own rules.
He said they don’t like people telling them what they can and cannot do and the “basis of our presentation is to bring to someone’s attention the arrogance of bureaucrats and interest groups who will automatically assume they have a God-given right to push, pull and employ punitive tactics in order to achieve their objective.”
When his turn came in the afternoon part of the session, Neukamm also told the panel about the devastating impact the proposed bill would have on the area’s economy.
Neukamm, who said he represents some 1,000 farm families who grow tobacco, said the board recognizes the need for a sound, responsible public policy on tobacco, but it has to be achieved on the basis of proper research and broad-based meaningful consultation with stakeholders. He talked about the unintended consequences of the government policies such as tax increases which have already resulted in increased demand for contraband and counterfeit product.
And, as to the government’s intentions to use higher tobacco taxes to pay for increased health-care costs, Neukamm said the costs associated with smoking are already well covered by existing taxes levied.
Quoting Health Minister George Smitherman’s estimate that smoking costs Ontario $1.7 billion annually, he pointed out smokers are already paying some $2.5 billion in taxes, more than enough to cover the alleged costs.
He also pointed out that no taxes are collected on black market products.
And where the government claims Bill 164 to be fair but firm, Neukamm said that fairness escapes him.
“Where is the fairness and balance for tobacco farmers?
He told committee the board wants the Ontario and federal governments to take a responsible approach and work proactively with all segments of the industry to develop a long-term and sensible policy framework for tobacco producers in this province.
He added the $50 million transition fund from the province is not nearly enough to help farmers.
He said the board wants to ensure that 90 per cent of the tobacco in Canadian cigarettes comes from Canadian growers and that there must be measures in place to help farmers wanting to exit the industry as well as funding to help them develop other businesses.
He asked the committee to recommend that the minister of agriculture take a leadership role and work with others
in the government to develop and implement a viable and sustainable long-term strategy for tobacco farmers and their communities. He said farmers need compensation for lost quota, lost income and equipment.
Norfolk Councillor Roger Geysens also told the committee of the impact the bill will have in a county that has already seen a great deal of suffering over the past few years as the industry has shrunk dramatically.
He said the crisis in tobacco has already had a ripple effect across the county and created social and economic losses. Within a couple of years in the early ‘90s. they have seen tobacco jobs (and that’s not yet counting value-added employment) decline from 3,965 to 1,450.
He read off a list of businesses that have already closed as a result of the crisis and said the situation will only get worse if Bill 164 is passed.
Geysens said there have been two major efforts at diversifications and millions were spent to find alternate crops, but few, if any, have survived past the time government funding ended.
“We were told tomatoes, peanuts and asparagus were good alternate crops, but none of it has worked.”
Committee also heard there are roughly 100,000 acres of tobacco-growing land for which no alternate, viable crop exists.
Geysens added his council has, on several occasions, applied for government help with economic proposals that might benefit the area. Everything from the Port Dover Ferry to COMRIF funding, but they never heard back on the ferry proposal and were shut out of COMRIF.
“On Tuesday there was a lot of frustration around our council table. It is as though Norfolk is the forgotten county.”
The committee also heard from the hospitality industry, fruit and vegetable growers and others all predicting dire consequences of the bill is passed.
Bill supporters
But of course not everyone at the hearing was opposed to Bill 164.
In fact, a majority of presenters - most with little if any connection to this area, the one that will be most affected by it - were in support of sweeping anti-smoking legislation.
The committee heard from several individuals and health councils telling them that anti-smoking legislation is a must for the province.
Some individuals, such as Barb Aiken, shared her story as a cancer survivor and one who is tired of seeing a number of good friends suffering with the disease.
She said the government must act to stop smoking in order to stop the number one cause of death in Ontario.
Another, Dennis Pare, chair of the Windsor Essex Council on Smoking and Health, said none of the issues and concerns raised in his area have come true since they introduced anti-smoking bylaws.
He said restaurants haven’t suffered, there are still nine local legions, just as there were before the ban and there also haven’t been any compliance problems either.
And why should there have been? he asked.
“How can marketing your business to appeal to the 75 per cent of the population that don’t smoke, versus 25 per cent that do, be cause for disaster?”
As to legion demands for exemptions, Pare said, “Unquestionably all Canadians owe a debt of gratitude to those brave souls who fought on our behalf...”
But he was quick to say if legions are exempted others may want the same right and that “puts us on a slippery slope of the law applying to no one.”
A study by Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit presented to the committee found that the adult population in the area want smoke-free public places, everything from arenas to bingo halls, bowling alleys and restaurants to name but a few.
Altogether, the committee heard from 24 presenters, 16 of which came out in favour of Bill 164.
A motion by Toby Barrett to extend the hearings as more than 134 individuals who wanted to be heard were turned down, was defeated.http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/story.php?id=157990
Teen tobacco fans bite off all they can chew -AB
Study finds 14.6% of Alberta youths have used snuff in last year
Archie McLean The Edmonton Journal Tuesday, May 03, 2005
EDMONTON - Mike Bradburn looks nothing like a rodeo cowboy or a baseball slugger.
First of all, he's 15, with spiky black hair and a touch of blond at the front. And he has no stubble on his chin.
Yet there he was at the food court in Westmount Mall, burying his fingers in a tin of chewing tobacco and stuffing a giant load beneath his bottom lip.
"I always have a dip in my mouth," he says.
Bradburn figures he goes through about a tin of snuff a day -- either Skoal apple or Copenhagen short cut. A lot of his friends chew too, or at least they'll ask for a pinch when they're hanging out together.
In total, 1.4 per cent of Albertans use chewing tobacco, the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission has found. The province accounts for roughly 40 per cent of the country's total sales, which is not surprising, given the number of Wranglers with a circle worn in the back pocket.
It's not just the cowboys though. According to AADAC, about 14.6 per cent of male youths in Alberta in grades seven to 12 have acknowledged using chewing tobacco in the previous year.
That's about double the use in Nova Scotia, the only other province that keeps such statistics.
The AADAC studies were done in 2002 and it's impossible to say if chewing tobacco use is increasing or decreasing among teens. But the problem is unlikely to go away.
Tobacco companies are accused of marketing to teens. One brand of chew, Rooster tobacco, recently started an ad campaign with teen appeal.
The glossy magazine pages feature a menacing, stylized rooster on a stark, black background. Bold lettering above the bird declares things like "Birds of a Feather Party Together" and "Where's the Chicks?"
Skoal offers flavours such as vanilla, peach, apple and wintergreen. They have brightly coloured tins and often feature prominently at convenience store counters.
According to the U.S. Smokeless Company, which makes most of the major brands, Skoal "has become one of America's favorite and most widely recognized brands, synonymous with outdoor activities and recreation."
That may sound odd but, according to Bradburn and his friends, it's the athletes, especially the hockey players, who chew the most.
Ira Terefenko, 16, says he and his buddies often have a chew after practice or games. They even do it on the ice sometimes, which is a bit more difficult since their coaches and their minor-hockey association don't allow it. "You have to swallow the juice, or you're hooped," Terefenko says.
Athletes often assume chewing is a safe option to cigarettes, says Lisa Christopher, a tobacco program consultant with AADAC.
It's true that chew doesn't cause lung cancer. But it can cause throat, voice-box or esophagus cancer and can lead to cancerous mouth sores, tooth abrasion and receding gums. In addition, nicotine constricts the blood vessels, which increases the heart rate during athletic activity.
Many athletes say they feel dizzy or nauseous if they chew while playing. This effect is partly achieved by abrasives in the chew -- often trace amounts of glass, sand or fibreglass -- that put microscopic cuts in the user's lip, helping nicotine to get into the bloodstream faster.
"Some spit tobacco users refer to it as the mainlining effect," Christopher says.
The result is an intense head rush, which is what drew Bradburn to the drug when he was in Grade 8. "I just got a huge buzz and I liked it," he says.
A pinch of chew contains roughly the same amount of nicotine as two or three cigarettes. A tin has as much nicotine as 60 smokes.
That's what makes it so tough to quit the habit. To help, AADAC rolled out a spit tobacco education program in 2002. It gives students information and resources to quit.
Edmonton Public Schools doesn't allow any tobacco products on school property. But a spokeswoman for the Catholic board says chewing tobacco isn't enough of a problem to make a specific rule banning it.
Billionaire Donald Trump sees it as a problem, though. In the current version of The Apprentice television show, Trump constantly harangued 22-year-old Chris Shelton about his spit tobacco habit.
All the haranguing in the world won't make Bradburn and his buddies quit. They wear their addiction like a badge of honour and don't give much thought to the health effects.
"I'm over it," Bradford says. "I just don't think about it anymore."
SPITTING IMAGE
The first rule of chewing tobacco is: "Don't chew it." Experienced users know to salivate rather than masticate. A "spit tobacco" devotee takes a wad of tobacco from the 40-gram, $7 can and places it between lips and gums. As saliva mixes with tobacco, it begins to release a cornucopia of substances, including the addictive nicotine. Those substances cause more saliva to flow and the user must spit regularly.
Since spittoons disappeared from parlours, bars and restaurants decades ago and have never been standard issue on international flights, users must spit into a cup or glass, often to the annoyance of those nearby. Some of the tobacco-saliva mix invariably flows down the throat, however, and it may cause all manner of side-effects including stomach upset and diarrhea. Keeping a pinch of "spit tobacco" in the mouth also results in inflamed gums and tobacco-flecked teeth, not to mention the risk of lip or gum cancer.
When saliva has washed all tobacco from between the lips and gums, it's time to reload.
-- Jim Farrell, The Journal
Ran with fact box "Spitting Image", which has been appended to this story.
SMOKERS, INSTEAD 2
SMOKERS, INSTEAD of wasting your money on cigarettes, give it to causes that fight pollution, poverty and crime. The only places benefiting from your habit are the sewers and garbage dumps.
Shannon Houle
(And don't forget the big tobacco companies.)http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/editorial.html#letters
Media Advisory - Ontario Convenience Store Association -ON
TORONTO, May 3 /CNW/ - The Ontario Convenience Stores Association will hold a Press Conference and Media Availability regarding Bill 164 and the issue of back wall sales areas at 11:00 am on Wednesday, May 4th at 11:00 am.
Independent convenience store owners will be in attendance to relate their experiences and difficulties.http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2005/03/c4081.html
McNeely amendment strengthens Smoke-Free Ontario Act -ON
Amendment would ban "power walls" to protect Ontario's kids
TORONTO, May 3 /CNW/ - Phil McNeely, MPP for Ottawa-Orleans, has brought forward an amendment to Bill 164, the Liberal government's "Smoke-Free Ontario Act" to ban so-called "power walls" one year from now, and eliminate all retail display of tobacco products in 2008.
"Our Committee has spent the past two weeks listening to Ontarians, and we've received a loud and clear message to ban power-walls and eliminate
retail displays of tobacco," said McNeely. "I'm extremely proud of Bill 164 as it currently stands, but the way the bill proposed to deal with retail displays, in my opinion, left too much uncertainty. My amendment will address that."
http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/May2005/03/c4065.html
Ex-mayor gives up smoking area fight -ON
By Staff - The Chronicle-Journal May 03, 2005
Former White River mayor Angelo Bazzoni has decided to take his lumps rather than continue fighting a charge under his town’s new smoking by-law.
Bazzoni has been fined $1,000 for opening a smoking section next to his Highway 17 doughnut shop last summer.
When Bazzoni was charged in August for violating White River’s silver-standard bylaw, he claimed the smoking section met the spirit of the bylaw because it was closed off and separate from the shop’s main entrance.
Similar setups meet the requirements of Marathon’s silver bylaw.
In an earlier interview, Bazzoni said he considered continuing to fight the charge a waste of time and money. He decided to plead guilty.
Bazzoni closed the smoking section after Algoma Health Unit laid the charges. He has not reopened it.
Health Unit program manager Marshall Chow said enforcement has been a challenge because smoking bylaws differ from municipality to municipality in the absence of provincial smoking legislation.
In addition to Bazzoni’s business, an eatery in Elliot Lake has been charged with violating a smoking bylaw in that town, Chow said.http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=26975
Barbecue eatery all fired up for carnivores -ON
CHRISTIAN COTRONEO May 4, 2005. 01:00 AM
LUNCH
The entrance to Frank Hsu's Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill is wedged open just wide enough for a smoky tentacle to snatch the occasional passerby by the nostrils.Inside, Frank Hsu stands behind a long counter, a heavy blade glinting in his hands. At his back, a chicken twirls endlessly over wood embers.
It will take 2 1/2 hours for that chicken to land. Although the space is well-provisioned, customers are encouraged to call ahead if they want to take the whole bird home for $8.99.
Some even bring their own dinners — from rabbit to goose — to have a turn in wondrous custom-built ovens.
Vegetarians will find a flicker of self-respect on the lunch menu with $1.99 spring rolls and Peking-style fried dumplings for $5.99.
But this place is so steeped in Hsu's special smoke, you're compromised as soon as you walk in. Stay long enough and it's hard to escape the feeling that maybe you, too, are being slow-roasted.
Save for the choice of protein — from salmon ($8.99) to sirloin ($9.99) to Mongolian-style barbecue beef short ribs ($7.99) — every lunch dish is served with a bowl of fresh, crisp and plain salad, noodles, rice, potato, carrots and green beans.
Hsu wears his influences on the menu sleeve. "In the beginning there was fire," the story reads. "Then somebody tossed a hunk of antelope into the embers, and lo, there was a barbecue."
In other words, this is a primal affair.
The salmon is pristinely pink in the middle, held together by a slightly tougher hide that's bristling with barbecue flavour. And all those side dishes that stood by so neatly are suddenly lost in the rich nebula of sauce. The rice is, well, rice. Sticks of carrot are thick and sturdy enough to ward off a crocodile attack. And there's enough garlic to keep your boss at bay when you get back to work.
It's high noon and hard not to notice the absence of a lunch throng in a restaurant that seats more than 60 people. But Back Alley only fired up its ovens in January and hasn't even had an official opening.
In any event, the place is empty save for a couple of regulars at a nearby table and a clump of anonymous mulchers in a distant corner. They're all sharing the same soundtrack — the reassuring sound of Hsu sharpening his knife and easy rock on the stereo.
And they're all leaning back in their chairs, sharing the same sigh.
This is meat done right.
Frank Hsu's Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill: 188 Augusta Ave. (south of Baldwin St.), 416-979-5557, http://www.backalleybbq.com.
Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays. Extended hours in summer.
Final tab: $24.13 for two.
Time: 50 minutes (from walking in the door to walking out).
Ideal lunch partner: An unabashed carnivore, who doesn't have time for the nuances of well-done and medium-rare.
Red flag: Part-time vegetarians, your goose is cooked.
6&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Youth need to catch up on reality -ON
Wake-up call for Toronto Islands
May 3.
I must confess that I had to search "wakeboarding" on the Internet to find out exactly what was coming to grace our fair shores this summer. Discovering that it involves doing stunts while holding on to a gas-guzzling motor boat ripping up and down peaceful bodies of water left me rather cooler about the whole thing. While fans of this "sport" will be tempted to write me off as a middle-aged stick-in-the-mud, I fear it is the young aficionados who are stuck in the mud of greenhouse gas-emitting entertainments of yesteryear. If our youth are the hope and promise of tomorrow, when are they going to catch up with the realities of war for oil and global climate change today?
Leslie Jermyn, Anthropologist, University of Toronto
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Arti
cle&cid=1115157011503&call_pageid=968332189003&col=968350116895&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Residents appeal crematorium -ON
TRACEY TYLER LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER May 4, 2005. 06:51 AM
They fear hazardous substances from Etobicoke facility
Provincial government had approved two furnaces on siteTed Green spends 16 hours a day as a commercial property manager in south Etobicoke. But he's afraid he'll be forced to quit his job when they fire up the furnaces in a planned neighbourhood crematorium.
"I don't know exactly what will come out of there, but from the process of burning bodies, there'll be a lot of stuff," he said in an interview yesterday.
Green is worried about what could happen if he breathes in microscopic particles from incinerated cadavers all day long. As a teenager, he had a blood disorder caused by dioxin exposure that led to the removal of his spleen, he said.
Green joined a busload of residents at the Ontario Court of Appeal yesterday for what may be their last attempt to block construction of the crematorium, at the northeast corner of Horner and Evans Aves.
The one-hectare parcel is home to a cemetery once operated by the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. It holds 1,512 burial sites of people who were patients at the hospital between 1892 and 1974. Another 1,337 burial sites remain vacant.
Four years ago, the Ontario Realty Corp. agreed to sell the land for $250,000 to a Woodbridge developer named George Damiani. He plans to build a crematorium, chapel and mausoleum, while leaving the existing graves under provincial control.
On May 29, 2000, the environment ministry's director of air approvals authorized a two-furnace crematorium that would allow for the incineration of up to 12 cadavers a day.
But the 250-member South Etobicoke Residents and Ratepayers Association is opposed to the project. Residents argue the crematorium will emit known environmental hazards, including dioxin, mercury, furans and particles collectively known as "PM10," which they say have been linked to premature death and childhood bronchitis.
The director of air approvals ignored an "avalanche of studies" on the hazardous effects of the substances and didn't bother to conduct tests of the existing air quality in the neighbourhood before giving the project his blessing, Rodney Northey, the association's lawyer, told a three-judge panel yesterday.
"It wasn't difficult to do. There was an air-monitoring station across the road from the site, operated by the Ontario Realty Corp.," he said.
But William Manuel, a lawyer representing the director, told the court that PM10 is "ubiquitous" in the environment.
"Any combustion exercise emits these contaminants," he told justices Stephen Borins, Robert Blair and Harry LaForme.
The director's approval paved the way for the sale of the land to Damiani's numbered company. The association is appealing a 2-1 ruling last year by the Divisional Court, which found that the ministry's environmental approval process, including the director's failure to consider PM10 emissions, was not unreasonable.
The case is the first challenge to provincial government decision-making governing air pollution, Northey said.
The Divisional Court said the environment ministry had yet to implement any PM10 standards as part of its air approval process. The director also wasn't required to consider existing pollution levels.
The association is relying heavily on a dissenting opinion by Divisional Court Justice Paul Cosgrove. He said the province was required to consider existing and future emissions in light of the Environmental Protection Act, which is designed to protect the environment.
Since the Divisional Court's ruling, Cosgrove has come under fire for his rulings against the government in other cases. A Canadian Judicial Council inquiry was called last year after Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant alleged that Cosgrove's decision in a 1999 murder case showed an apprehension of bias.
David McCutcheon, a lawyer representing the Ontario Realty Corp., told the appeal court yesterday that the association failed to raise air-quality concerns at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the building of the crematorium. Trying to do so now amounts to an abuse of process, he argued.
The court reserved its decision.
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Legion going smoke-free -AB
59-28 in favour of butting out
By Bruce Campbell Times Editor Wednesday May 04, 2005
High River Times — Members of the High River Royal Canadian Legion have voted by more than a two-to-one margin to make their facility completely smoke-free as of May 1.
“We thought it was an appropriate time to have the vote,” said Legion member Fred Swallow, who made the motion for the High River Legion to go non-smoking.“With the provincial vote in the future, we might have had to do it anyway.”
The April 25 vote was 59-28 in favour of the complete butt-out at the Legion. Prior to May 1, smoking was allowed at the bar and dining section of the Legion, where youths were not allowed.
No smoking was allowed in the public hall west of the bar. A door was closed between the two areas to ensure the public hall remained smoke-free.
“No doubt we may initially lose some revenues - particularly in the bingo and the bar,” Swallow said. “But if we have a decrease it will be for a short time and I think it will pick right up.”
The Town of High River passed a bylaw effective Jan. 1, 2004, that no smoking is allowed in buildings or businesses to where minors have access.
Legion member Gordon Marshall, a non-smoker, is one of approximately 15 people who regularly shows up at the dining area for morning coffee.
Despite being a non-smoker, he sympathizes with those members who do smoke (all of the members gathered around Marshall’s table on April 28 were non-smokers).“Some of the people who smoke were members long before the non-smokers,” Marshall said. “They were smoking when they went away to fight for our country.”
Don Tiller, vice-president of the Legion and a smoker, said the decision was made in a democratic fashion.
“This is a members’ club and we do what the members want - the vote was overwhelmingly in favour (to go non-smoking),” Tiller said.
He added while he’s concerned about the potential loss of business at the Legion, he agrees with Swallow that in the future bars and restaurants may be legislated to go smoke-free.
Tiller added the facility going smoke-free isn’t about to give him the motivation to quit smoking.
Swallow admits there are a few members who are a bit angered about the decision.
“I think they feel their rights were taken away, but then they are the dedicated smokers,” Swallow said. “Majority rules and it is a free country. We had a democratic vote and they voted against.
http://www.highrivertimes.com/story.php?id=158149
Smoking ban: City deserves a public hearing -ON
Windsor Star Tuesday, May 03, 2005
No city has more to lose from a provincewide smoking ban than Windsor. That's why it's essential a public hearing on the proposed legislation be held here.
Right now that looks unlikely. Queen's Park shut the city out of four days of hastily convened hearings on the subject last month, opting instead to take its panel to Oshawa, Tillsonburg and Toronto.
There's still a slim chance a local task force led by two city councillors will score an audience Thursday with the provincial committee examining the legislation clause-by-clause.
Local MPPs Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan are trying to arrange it. But while dispatching a local delegation to Toronto would be preferable to an outright snub, it wouldn't give affected Windsorites a chance to speak up on butting out. Duncan and Pupatello should join city council -- which endorsed a motion on the subject Monday night -- in demanding a local public hearing on Bill 164.
Windsor's unique brew of bingo halls, a racetrack and a casino, all minutes away from stiff Michigan competition, make it especially susceptible to the body blow a smoking ban is sure to deliver. The restaurant and bar industry will suffer, too, as Michiganders, who like cigarettes with their cocktails, opt not to cross the border for dinner and drinks.
Windsor's gaming sector is already suffering the ill-effects of tighter post-9-11 border security, a high Canadian dollar and last year's labour disruption at the casino. Casino Windsor's revenue fell from $639 million in 2001-02 to $501 million in 2003-04, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation's most recent annual report.
And Casino Windsor is about to find itself in straits even more dire. Detroit recently got the go-ahead to transform its three temporary casinos into sparkling permanent facilities. That alone spells trouble for a facility that claims 80 per cent of its patrons are from the U.S., but if Casino Windsor is forced to forbid smoking, it can expect to bleed even more clients.
Like the casino, Windsor's bingo sector can count on suffering if smoking is banned. John Fairley of Classic Bingo Country claims business plummeted by 75 per cent in Tecumseh after the county banned smoking in public places.
Bingos there dropped from seven days a week to three, largely because bingo-loving smokers could drive a short distance to one of Windsor's eight halls instead. The same could happen with Michigan, imperilling a local industry that employs more than 375 people and drummed up nearly $18 million for charities in 2003 alone.
Taverns and restaurants won't be exempt either. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, which opposes an outright and immediate smoking ban, expects the legislation to wound Ontario as it has places like New Brunswick.
The association's research shows more than 70 per cent of bars, pubs, taverns, legions and nightclubs in the province saw their liquor sales fall in the first month after a ban took effect last Oct. 1.
All this could amount to a big economic hit for Windsor. When it comes to smoking bans, border towns are simply different beasts. They deserve special treatment -- in this case, an exemption from blanket anti-smoking legislation set to become law in 2006.
But that's unlikely to happen if Windsor doesn't at least get the chance to voice its concerns to the provincial government at a public hearing.
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