Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
EDMONTON -- Premier Ralph Klein says he'll chew gum.
Jump to full article »
The mayor of Yorkton says the city is exploring its options in the wake of the First Nations-run Painted Hand Casino allowing smoking after previously adhering to the city's anti-smoking bylaw.
That could even include cutting off city services to the casino, said Mayor Phil DeVos, although he acknowledged that step would be highly unlikely.
DeVos said the situation also shows the need for all levels of government to clarify jurisdiction issues around urban reserves.
Health Minister Philippe Couillard said yesterday if Quebecers have a higher incidence of cancer than other Canadians, it is because more Quebecers smoke.
Premier Ralph Klein said Sunday his government will not rush to change its position against a provincewide smoking ban, a day after one group of Conservative party delegates resoundingly backed a resolution demanding much stronger anti-tobacco laws than the government is poised to pass
Next week, Karen Bodirsky of the The Fair Air Association of Canada (FAAC) and Edgar Mitchell of the Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada (PUBCO) will release the most extensive study to date detailing the economic impact of the impending McGuinty government's smoking ban (Bill 164). The peer reviewed study based on actual Ontario Ministry of Finance data is clear, direct and irrefutable. Details will be available early next week on the date, location and time of the press conference.
REGINA -- While the provincial government is facing a court challenge to its anti-smoking legislation, legal experts said Tuesday it likely has little to worry about.
REGINA - With all four First Nations casinos in the province allowing smoking, the NDP government has all but given up its effort to bring them in line with the provincial ban on lighting up indoors.
EDMONTON -- A group of Conservative delegates was nearly unanimous Saturday in voting for a complete smoking ban in public places.
SASKATOON -- There's little love lost between a small-town bar owner and local health authorities when it comes to the province-wide smoking ban.
Smoking legislation that will become law in Alberta isn’t about moving on a health hazard that kills people, it’s about off-loading a political problem.
And many commentators on the province’s decision to allow no-smoking exemptions to bars and casinos, etc., miss the fact those venues will be regulated by municipalities.
Any civic law will supercede the provincial law, so smoking crackdowns in all public places are in the works.
The Tory government, at least those in high places, didn’t want anything to do with this issue. . . .
Health Minister Iris Evans jumped the gun when she mis-read Ralph Klein’s comments that "smoking is stupid" as a sign he wanted a ban.
He didn’t, but suddenly it became a big issue which was only defused by the legislature’s half-way measure (a vote in which three cabinet ministers said nay, and at least two Calgary MLAs purposely skipped, choosing instead to munch on cold cuts in celebration of a colleague’s birthday).
The provincial government doesn’t want to regulate smoking, at least not now. It is quite happy to leave the work and the political fallout to other levels of government.
New Brunswick's Liberal leader has called upon the government to sue big tobacco companies for driving up medicare costs.
Shawn Graham said Friday that New Brunswick needs to follow the lead of other provinces like British Columbia.
He said the government should start by introducing legislation that would allow the province to sue in an effort to recover treatment costs for illnesses caused by tobacco use.
Justice Minister Brad Green said the question of whether provinces can sue the companies is expected to go before the Supreme Court of Canada.
"We'll have an opportunity to seek intervenor status to argue on the constitutional issues,'' said Green
With all four First Nations casinos in the province now allowing smoking, the NDP government has all but given up its efforts to bring them in line with the provincial ban on indoor public smoking.
The Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton began allowing smoking in 40 per cent of its area on Thursday even though it had previously followed the city's anti-smoking bylaw.
Deputy Premier Clay Serby, who represents the Yorkton constituency, said he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
In two meetings with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations on the smoking issue about a month and a half ago, First Nations representatives made it clear that smoking would be allowed in native casinos in Prince Albert, North Battleford and White Bear First Nation and possibly in Yorkton as well, said Serby.
After the government's strategy of moral suasion did not work, it now simply hopes the First Nations will eventually change their mind on the smoking issue.
If it were actually serious about reducing the dangers of cigarette smoking, the company could just stop manufacturing cigarettes. Since it has chosen not to do that, it is a fair question to ask what it could hope to determine in its brand-new research centre. And why should the public should take the company's word for it if it finds with something that suggests smoking is - surprise ! - safe?
Its track record in research is not reassuring. Last fall, The Lancet accused Philip Morris of such selective publication of medical findings that as to turn the truth on its head. The public stands forewarned.
Canada lost a U.S. Supreme Court case Monday over its attempt to use a U.S. anti-racketeering law to sue over cigarette smuggling.
Canadian leaders contend R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. tried to get around taxes by smuggling tobacco into Canada through an Indian reserve. Other countries had copied Canada's suit, which sought $1-billion in damages.
However, the U.S. high court refused to consider reinstating the case, signalling that countries must use their own courts to pursue American companies they accuse of wrongdoing.
federal judge who helped hand the tobacco industry one of its biggest legal victories in recent years represented a tobacco company as a private attorney, a newspaper reported Monday.
The 2-1 ruling last October by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals derailed Canada's billion-dollar cigarette smuggling case against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., leading to the dismissal of similar suits against cigarette makers by the European Union and Colombia.
Internal documents disclosed in tobacco litigation show that U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan participated in high-level meetings discussing how to prevent government action on tobacco smuggling when he was an attorney for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in the 1970s and '80s, the Los Angeles Times reported.