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The Government of Quebec should revisit its priorities to focus on the crisis of illegal tobacco sales 

Today, Imperial Tobacco Canada has asked one of its senior partners, the Government of Quebec, to stop its hypocrisy towards the tobacco industry and focus its energy and funds in curbing the growing and unchecked sale of illegal tobacco.

In a statement before the Social Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, Mr. Donald McCarty, Imperial Tobacco Canada's Vice President of Law, stated, "Instead of wasting time trying to find ways to litigate against tobacco manufacturers, the government should instead cooperate with the legitimate tobacco industry to concentrate on fighting contraband."

The Social Affairs Commission of the Legisative Assembly of Québec is currently hearing presentations on Bill 43 (Tobacco - related Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act).

"This Bill is an appalling attempt at 'corporate profiling' aimed at isolating a specific industry, in this case the tobacco industry. The logic on which this bill is based could also be applied to several other consumer products," added Mr. McCarty. "This includes alcohol and lotteries, two industries in which the government is deeply entrenched." . . .

The Government of Quebec should take the necessary steps to wipe out the illegal cigarette trade, which represents a clear threat to public income, public health and the survival of small Quebec-based retailers. In Quebec, over 40 percent of all cigarettes purchased are illegal. Forty percent of all cigarettes are sold by criminal organizations that ignore regulations and willingly sell to young Quebeckers at ridiculously low prices, without requiring any proof of age.

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Imperial Tobacco Canada names new President and CEO 

The chairman of the Board of Directors of Imperial Tobacco Canada announced today that Benjamin Kemball has accepted a new assignment within the British American Tobacco group effective August 2009.

Mr. Kemball will be appointed Area Director of the Southern Cone of South America and will oversee British American Tobacco's operations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru. He will be based in Santiago de Chile.

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And the winners are... the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation supports eleven leading Canadian arts organizations 

From a musical based on the story of a shipwreck survivor in Newfoundland to a new Canadian opera, and from a morality play acted on horse-drawn wagons in British Columbia to an innovative Montreal photography festival, the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation is delighted to announce the winners of its two inaugural arts donations programs, New Creation in the Arts and the Arts Achievement Award.

The prestigious Arts Achievement Award winner is LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO A MONTREAL, an international biennale of contemporary photography mounted in multiple Montreal public spaces, galleries and artist-run centres. This month long celebration includes educational and curatorial programming, keynote lectures and exhibitions. LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO A MONTREAL attracts visitors and artists from around the world and garners international attention. . . .

- OIL AND WATER, Artistic Fraud, St. John's, Newfoundland. A new musical theatre piece by writer Robert Chafe, composer Andrew Craig and Siminovitch winner, director Jillian Keiley. . . .

- LOCK DANSEURS, La La La Human Steps, Montreal. A new creation by Edouard Lock . . .

- CREATION 2010: O Vertigo Danse Inc., Montreal. Ginette Laurin is one of Canada's most innovative choreographers. . . . '

- DOULEUR EXQUISE, Sibyllines, Montreal. A new work by Siminovitch winner Brigitte Haentjens . . .

- THE MINES OF VENUS, Arraymusic, Toronto. . . .

- SEVEN STRANDS OF SOUND, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ontario. A diverse group of seven Canadian composers . . .

- CANASIAN DANCE FESTIVAL, Toronto. Three outstanding Asian dance artist/companies will create site specific works . . .

- THE INVENTOR, Calgary Opera Association, Alberta. A new Canadian opera by Bramwell Tovey with libretto by John Murrell. . . .

- EVERYONE: A MODERN MORAILITY PLAY IN SEVEN HORSE-DRAWN ACTS, Caravan Farm Theatre, Armstrong, British Columbia. . . .

- OUGHT APARTMENT, Vancouver Art Gallery Association, British Columbia. Using recycled and reclaimed materials in the blending of visual arts and architecture, artist Reece Terris will install a six-story apartment building in the rotunda of the gallery, noting the enduring nature of material culture.

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Imperial Tobacco Canada names new President and CEO 

The chairman of the Board of Directors of Imperial Tobacco Canada announced today that Benjamin Kemball has accepted a new assignment within the British American Tobacco group effective August 2009.

Mr. Kemball will be appointed Area Director of the Southern Cone of South America and will oversee British American Tobacco's operations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru. He will be based in Santiago de Chile.

"It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to Benj Kemball. We congratulate him on his new appointment and wish him great success, but all of us at Imperial Tobacco Canada will miss him. He has guided Imperial Tobacco Canada for the last four and a half years not only with sharp business acumen and leadership, but also with boundless enthusiasm, passion and heart," said Tom Gillespie, chairman of the board of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

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AND THE WINNERS ARE… THE IMPERIAL TOBACCO CANADA FOUNDATION SUPPORTS ELEVEN LEADING CANADIAN ARTS ORGANIZATIONS (PDF) 

From a musical based on the story of a shipwreck survivor in Newfoundland to a new Canadian opera, and from a morality play acted on horse-drawn wagons in British Columbia to an innovative Montreal photography festival, the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation is delighted to announce the winners of its two inaugural arts donations programs, New Creation in the Arts and the Arts Achievement Award.

The prestigious Arts Achievement Award winner is LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO À MONTRÉAL, an international biennale of contemporary photography mounted in multiple Montreal public spaces, galleries and artist-run centres. This month long celebration includes educational and curatorial programming, keynote lectures and exhibitions. LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO À MONTRÉAL attracts visitors and artists from around the world and garners international attention.

“LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO À MONTRÉAL is an extraordinary achievement which reaches sustained excellence at all levels, especially in its strong creative focus and outstanding curatorial skills,” said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada and chair of the board of the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation. . . .

The ten winners of the New Creation in the Arts are:

IMPERIAL TOBACCO CANADA NAMES NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO (PDF) 

The chairman of the Board of Directors of Imperial Tobacco Canada announced today that Benjamin Kemball has accepted a new assignment within the British American Tobacco group effective August 2009.

Mr. Kemball will be appointed Area Director of the Southern Cone of South America and will oversee British American Tobacco’s operations in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru. He will be based in Santiago de Chile.

“It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to Benj Kemball. We congratulate him on his new appointment and wish him great success, but all of us at Imperial Tobacco Canada will miss him. He has guided Imperial Tobacco Canada for the last four and a half years not only with sharp business acumen and leadership, but also with boundless enthusiasm, passion and heart,” said Tom Gillespie, chairman of the board of Imperial Tobacco Canada.

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Tobacco legislation deflects focus on true problem 

Today Imperial Tobacco Canada called on the Government of Ontario to step up and stamp out the out-of-control illegal tobacco industry rather than wasting time and taxpayers money on futile legislation.

In a statement before the Ontario Legislature's Standing Committee on Justice Policy, Donald McCarty, Imperial Tobacco Canada's Vice-President of Law, said, "I can no longer come before a committee such as this and say that Imperial Tobacco Canada is Canada's leading tobacco company, at least not in Ontario. In Ontario the leading supplier of tobacco products are the illegal manufacturers who sell half of the tobacco purchased in the province."

The Standing Committee on Justice Policy is hearing presentations on Bill 155 (Tobacco Damages and Heath Care Costs Recovery Act). If it passes the bill would allow the government to stack the deck in a lawsuit it would be allowed to bring against tobacco manufacturers for healthcare costs allegedly associated with tobacco usage.

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• Smokes: First you'll feel green, and then you'll die 

In a full-page advertisement inside Toronto Life magazine, du Maurier Canada boasts of its new "greener" cigarette packages, which, at this rate, may soon be safer to smoke than the products they contain.

Parent company Imperial Tobacco has replaced foil wrapping with paper and uses external cardboard packaging that "meets standards supporting sustainable forest management,' according to the ad.

"Small steps make the difference," it reads.

Gideon Forman laughed when asked about it. Later, when he stopped laughing, the spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment said:

"Is it green washing? Yes. . . .

Imperial Tobacco Canada spokesperson Eric Gagnon responded, "Our product is going to be in the waste or the dumpster, so what we try to do in terms of ... corporate social responsibility is do it in a good manner." . . .

Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada, had already seen du Maurier's green plans advertised on the plastic wrapping of older cigarette boxes.

"I had to wonder," she said, "why isn't this space being used to give consumers more information on their health?"

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Six visual arts groups nominated for inaugural $75,000 Arts Achievement Award 

The Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation today announced the six nominees for its inaugural Arts Achievement Award, an honour established by the Foundation in November 2008 to recognize sustained artistic excellence and innovative achievement. The winner of the award will receive a $75,000 prize.

"We are very impressed and extremely pleased with the high calibre of the nominations for our first Arts Achievement Award, as they provide an outstanding array of the vital organizations that play such an important role in the artistic fabric of our country," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada and chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors. "These associations have already contributed significantly both in Canada and abroad, and are in the vanguard of the visual arts and media world. We salute our nominators who did an exemplary job on our behalf."

The 2009 nominated organizations in the areas of visual arts, new media arts and architecture are:

Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal . . .

Centre for Aboriginal Media and imagineNATIVE Annual Film +Media Arts Festival, Toronto . . .

Images Festival, Toronto . . .

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg . . .

Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG), Lethbridge, Alberta . . .

Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver

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Tax hikes, denial and inaction: Provinces put out the welcome mat to illegal tobacco traffickers 

Imperial Tobacco Canada is shocked by the latest in a series of counterproductive provincial and territorial indirect and direct tax increases on tobacco from the governments of Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Quebec that make these provinces even more attractive for Canada's flourishing illegal tobacco industry.

"In times of economic crisis, increasing tobacco taxes may seem to be an easy way to mitigate planned government deficits," said Richard Hodgson, chief financial officer of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "But, for the majority of the provinces, it serves only to fuel the growth of illegal tobacco sales. The reality, in the long-term, is likely to be larger deficits for some provinces due to higher levels of uncollected and delinquent tobacco tax."

On April 7, just as the federal government was announcing measures to combat illegal tobacco sales, the Government of Alberta announced that it would increase the tax on a carton of 200 cigarettes by $3.00. Manitoba, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have also announced tobacco tax increases in their respective provincial and territorial budgets. In line with its Quebec Sales Tax rate change, Quebec announced a nominal tobacco tax increase in 2011 in its 2009 budget.

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Province blamed for illegal cigarette 'crisis'  

Imperial Tobacco Canada is blaming some provinces, including Alberta, for what their calling a crisis level for sales of illegal cigarettes.

Imperial says in times of economic crisis many government's believe that hiking tobacco taxes is an easy way to mitigate their deficits.

But the company insists this kind of tax increase will not have the desired effect and will undermine efforts to stop the growth of illegal tobacco sales.

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• Ontario's Healthcare Cost Recovery Act Misses the Mark 

Imperial Tobacco Canada stated today that Ontario's lawmakers should take a stand against the rampant sales of illegal tobacco in Ontario rather than adopting politically expedient legislation such as the Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act when they return to Queen's Park this week.

"The Government of Ontario cannot claim that this legislation has anything to do with public health when they are ignoring half the market. Illegal tobacco accounts for close to 50 per cent of tobacco purchases in Ontario - the most in Canada," said Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "It is hypocritical that the Government of Ontario turns around and sues a legal industry that they oversee and license while it allows an illegal tobacco industry to flourish."

The illegal tobacco trade is robbing Canadians of government revenue, undermining tobacco control initiatives, exposing children to cheap cigarettes and allowing organized crime to cash in all the way to the bank. . . .

"This legislation is simply a cash grab. If the government is looking for money, it would be far better to deal with the illegal market than enter into years of legal wrangling that will not result in the monetary windfall the government is hoping for," said Mr. Kemball. "It is time for a government to take a stand. We expect that the Government of Ontario will include the illegal manufacturers in any lawsuit it may bring forward."

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Tobacco Board Looking Into A Class Action Lawsuit  

The Ontario Flue Cured Tobacco Grower's Marketing Board is looking into a class action lawsuit against the tobacco companies who pled guilty to smuggling. Imperial Tobacco Canada as well as Rothmans Benson and Hedges pled guilty in July, and as a result, their cash settlement is what is funding the Tobacco Transition Program.

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Norfolk County : Tobacco Board Looking Into A Class Action Lawsuit  

The Ontario Flue Cured Tobacco Grower's Marketing Board is looking into a class action lawsuit against the tobacco companies who pled guilty to smuggling. Imperial Tobacco Canada as well as Rothmans Benson and Hedges pled guilty in July, and as a result, their cash settlement is what is funding the Tobacco Transition Program. The tobacco board with the help of their lawyer Werner Keller of Sutts, Strosberg are looking into any legal proceedings that could take place because of the guilty plea.

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• KEMBALL: What’s stopping cigarette crackdown?  

It is a rare thing when the tobacco control community and the tobacco industry are on the same side of an issue. When it does happen, governments should take notice. This illegal trade not only robs Canadians of government revenue, it undermines tobacco control initiatives, exposing children to cheap cigarettes and allowing organized crime to cash in.

The numbers are alarming: 13 billion illegal cigarettes were sold in Canada in 2008; nearly 50% of all cigarettes purchased in Ontario are illegal; 40% of cigarettes purchased in Quebec are illegal; Organized crime is making hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

There are social costs as well. Illegal cigarettes are falling into the hands of young people. . . .

We believe this trade must be stopped and we have offered our full resources to government to help in this fight. In doing so, we make a simple plea to governments and the public at large: In these times of economic crisis, if you do not like the messenger, at least listen to the message.

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