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• Decline in smoking rates flatlines; cancer group blames contraband cigarettes  

Efforts to cut smoking rates among Canadians have stalled and the Canadian Cancer Society is blaming huge sales of cheap contraband cigarettes in this country.

Federal and provincial governments need to take action, including insisting that American authorities shut down illegal cigarette production operations on the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall, Ont., the organization said Monday.

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the cancer society, said the RCMP has identified the American side of Akwesasne as the most important source of illegal cigarettes sold in Canada.

"So it's essential that (Minister of Public Safety) Stockwell Day persuade his U.S. counterpart, the secretary of homeland security, to shut down the illegal operations on the U.S. side of Akwesasne," Cunningham said in an interview.

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