October 9, 2009 - We are sending out congratulations today! Due to the hard work of youth advocates across Ontario who identified the deadly allure of candy-flavoured tobacco, both the provincial and federal governments were pushed into legislative action. Bill C-32, a tough bill intended to crack down on marketing to youth, was passed Tuesday, October 6th by Parliament with no amendments. There is now one less way for kids to get hooked on tobacco industry products.
Congratulations are also due to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and the Harper Conservative government for making good on the Prime Minister’s 2008 election promise to ban flavoured tobacco industry products.
“The fight to ban candy flavouring in tobacco started years ago,“ said Peer Leader Catherine Kiewning from Red Lake. “We could see how teens were being targeted by the tobacco industry. Youth Action Alliance (YAA) groups brought the issue to the forefront with the “Flavour. . . Gone!” campaign.” Across the province different YAA groups received wide media coverage with events and initiatives. Kiewning adds “We have a Facebook site with hundreds of members which really helped to mobilize support. First the province recognized the seriousness of the candy-flavouring issue and passed Bill C- 566. Then we kept up the momentum to make the protection of teens from candy-flavoured tobacco a national law.”
Jennifer McKibbon, Manager of Tobacco Control at Northwestern Health Unit agrees. “We wouldn’t have been successful without the passion, energy and enthusiasm of the Youth Action Alliance teens. The Prime Minister’s promise was only a promise, until the youth started organizing. A key step was the partnership between youth in Northwestern Ontario and Winnipeg MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis. A Campaign Kick-Off in July of 2008 started the “Flavour …Gone’’ lobby effort. YAA groups in Eastern Ontario kept up the pressure for action, sending candy and their flavoured tobacco look-alikes to all MPs. Youth were active in the parliamentary hearings, bringing an effective counter message to the tobacco industry.
“The passage of Bill C-32 is a genuine step forward in tobacco control,” said Jim Morris, Chair of Tobacco Free Thunder Bay, “It was the youth workforce who were able to keep up the tobacco control momentum to eliminate flavoured cigarillos. Teens knew the seriousness of this issue because they could see their friends experimenting and getting caught-up in tobacco addiction.”
Bill C-32 will require cigarillos (little cigars) and blunt wraps to be sold in packages of 20, with health warnings similar to cigarettes, eliminating “kiddie packs”. Addition of fruit and candy flavouring to blunts, cigarillos, and cigarettes will also be prohibited. Tobacco industry advertising will be restricted further, banning ads in Canadian magazines and newspapers.
Background: Royal Assent on Thursday, Oct 8th for Bill C-32, which is now an Act of Parliament. Implementation dates will be as follows:
Immediate - a ban on tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines
April 6, 2010 – a ban on flavoured cigarettes, cigarillos and blunt wraps comes into force at the manufacturer/import level (180 days after Royal Assent)
July 5, 2010 – a ban on flavoured cigarettes, cigarillos and blunt wraps comes into force at the retail level (270 days after Royal Assent)
Bill C-32 didn’t go through without hitting any bumps along the way. Despite tobacco industry claims that they do not market to children, there was months of lobbying against Bill C-32. The tobacco industry argued that a ban on flavouring product such as Peach, Wildberry and Pina Colada does not recruit youth, but rather was giving a choice for adult smokers. The industry lobbying extended to threatening the closure of a plant in Quebec to the tune of 300 job losses.
Supporters of the bill feared that any such exemption to adding flavouring would allow loopholes such as the freedom to add traditional flavouring such as vanilla and cocoa making it clear that the industry was once again creating a “smoke-screen” to obscure their true agenda.