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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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