http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/canada.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/13/c3902.html http://tobacco.org/news/265386.html Rothmans Inc. confirmed today that Rothmans Inc. and its 60% owned subsidiary Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. ("RBH") are named as defendants, along with Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, JTI-Macdonald Corp. and a number of international tobacco product manufacturers, in a lawsuit filed by the Province of New Brunswick in the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick. The lawsuit is based upon grounds which include alleged misrepresentations made by the defendants in respect of the hazards of tobacco products and seeks to recover unspecified damages for costs that are alleged by the Government of New Brunswick to have been incurred in providing health care benefits to New Brunswick residents who have allegedly suffered smoking-related illnesses. Canada Newswire Canada Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ivddFzD0PFXl0uRU0XXgJtm_V9KQ http://tobacco.org/news/265361.html Cigarette maker Rothmans Inc. (TSX:ROC) grew its full-year earnings by 18 per cent to $117.6 million, but said that despite certain regulatory changes to the industry, it was still being hit by contraband and competitive challenges. The company said net sales at subsidiary Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. rose eight per cent to $670.6 million on price increases, while Rothmans' net profit for the year was $1.72 per diluted share, compared with $99.8 million or $1.46 per share in the previous year, when RBH sales were $618.6 million. CEO John Barnett, who has long complained about the impact of contraband on the company, said Friday that the results were "a substantial achievement in a market where we continue to see industry volume erosion as a result of the contraband activity." "While we are encouraged by some of the recent government announcements involving certain regulatory changes and enforcement strategies, we believe that the will to execute these and other required initiatives is the key to mitigating the contraband issue," Barnett said during a conference call. Canadian Press Canada Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1638251720080516 http://tobacco.org/news/265360.html Fourth-quarter profit at Rothmans Inc grew 17 percent, Canada's No 2 cigarette maker said on Friday, as price increases more than offset pressure from a growing trade in contraband tobacco. Increased competition to sell low-priced cigarettes and declining volumes posed further difficulties, but Rothmans said it is well positioned financially to withstand market pressures thanks to C$234.9 million in cash reserves. Known for its Craven A, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges brands, the company said it earned C$21 million ($21 million), or 31 Canadian cents per share, in the period ended March 31. That is up from C$18 million, or 26 Canadian cents per share, in the same period last year and betters analyst expectation for a profit of 30 Canadian cents a share. Reuters Canada Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=665e0eeb-e48f-4ba6-9921-85db1fb390d6 http://tobacco.org/news/265348.html This doesn't make sense. While the provincial government has been fighting for the right to sue tobacco companies to recover health-care costs in the Supreme Court of Canada, the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., a Crown corporation, has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into tobacco stocks. Its investments in tobacco stocks had a market value of more than $385 million in 2007. Established in 1999, BCIMC manages more than $83 billion in assets, including $64 billion administered on behalf of public-sector pension funds. Its clients also include the province of British Columbia, public trusts and insurance funds. . . . But should a Crown corporation be using public sector pension fund contributions to buy stocks in tobacco companies and foreign military contractors? There may be wide differences of opinion on the issue of military contractors, but I seriously doubt that a majority of B.C. residents would defend the tobacco investments. The right thing to do is for the B.C. Investment Management Corp. to divest itself immediately of all tobacco stocks. Those investments are an embarrassment to the government and a serious health hazard for the rest of us. Vancouver Sun sunnewstips@png.canwest.com (Gordon Keast, The Vancouver Sun) Canada Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1055774.html http://tobacco.org/news/265335.html Bob Gee will have his day in court. The Kentville tobacconist, who has been defying provincial law on displaying cigarettes, was charged Tuesday with improper display and storage of tobacco products. Mr. Gee, owner of Mader's Tobacco Store, is the first to be charged under the province's new laws prohibiting the display of cigarettes. He was ordered last February to comply with the regulations governing tobacco vendors or be charged under the Tobacco Access Act. At the time, he was given 30 days to comply. "I was sort of expecting it, but I was hoping they would change the regulations so I could do my job," Mr. Gee, 63, said in an interview. . . . While he removed his store window displays, as required under the law, he refused to abide by the new regulations passed last December requiring him to remove all in-store displays. He was also ordered at that time to stop selling other items in his tobacco shop, including newspapers, gum, chocolate, soft drinks and other products. Under the act, tobacconists are permitted to sell tobacco and tobacco-related products only. He has not complied with that order either Halifax Chronicle Herald gdelaney@herald.ca (GORDON DELANEY Valley Bureau) Canada Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1028549 http://tobacco.org/news/265334.html For the first time in 75 years, no tobacco will be grown on the family farm. "It took a day or two for it to sink in - you can't make it, the numbers don't crunch," said Verkindt. As the planting season in the Ontario sand plain starts this week, the uncertainty tobacco growers have faced every spring for the last 10 years has changed to a grim reality. With this year's crop size predicted to be less than one-seventh of what it was a decade ago, and with little sign of a government buyout on the horizon, farmers have finally hit the wall. "I'm on the verge of losing it," Verkindt said of his farm. Brantford Expositor Canada Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=f798b8f9-0213-47c4-81af-dfa3e158f357 http://tobacco.org/news/265333.html Quebec's anti-tobacco troopers have quietly been instructed to wink at their own law when the next big deadline in the provincial war on smoking dawns May 31. A provincial health official conceded Thursday tobacco stores won't face immediate fines if they haven't squirrelled their supplies of smokes out of the sight of every single customer by the original target date. Corner-store owners have quietly been granted an unspecified amount of extra breathing time before they'll start to get dinged with fines that could range from $300 to $2,000 for a first offence. Montreal Gazette mailto:ariga@thegazette.canwest.com Canada Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.guelphmercury.com/Opinions/article/327108 http://tobacco.org/news/265308.html Provisions that have been in place since the Smoke-Free Ontario Act was first enacted two years ago -- including the banning of countertop displays and requirements that vendors ask for ID from prospective buyers younger than 25 -- have gone a significant way to reducing the number of young smokers. The complete ban of tobacco displays is a logical next step in the process. And greater scrutiny of convenience and grocery stores, gas bars and other outlets that sell cigarettes, to ensure that are keeping them out of the hands of those under 19, would be a healthy way to complete the process. Guelph Mercury website@guelphmercury.com Canada Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1026911 http://tobacco.org/news/265284.html A tobacco vendor in Mattawa has lost the right to sell cigarettes for six months after being convicted of repeat tobacco sales to minors, according to the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. The two convictions against the owner of Mick's Gas Bar, 720 John St., were registered Sept. 8, 2005 and Aug. 23, 2007, and resulted from charges laid by one of the health unit's tobacco enforcement officers. North Bay Nugget /Account/Profile.aspx?un=gandefaulkner@sympatico.ca Canada Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://simcoereformer.ca/News/400844.html http://tobacco.org/news/265278.html The problem is nobody wants them, not even Verkindt. It took a lot of thinking, and convincing from his wife, but the third generation tobacco grower recently decided not to transfer the crop to his fields. For the first time in 75 years, no tobacco will be grown on the family farm. "It took a day or two for it to sink in - you can’t make it, the numbers don’t crunch," said Verkindt. As the planting season in the Ontario sand plain starts this week, the uncertainty tobacco growers have faced every spring for the last 10 years has changed to a grim reality. With this year’s crop size predicted to be less than one-seventh of what it was a decade ago, and with little sign of a government buyout on the horizon, farmers such as Verkindt have finally hit the wall. "I’m on the verge of losing it," Verkindt said of his farm. The story across the tobacco belt is the same, said Celia Stone, a "transitional consultant" who sat down with the Verkindts this spring and helped them come to terms with their situation. "I’ve had a lot of farmers who were going to grow now say they can’t make the numbers work," said Stone, who is advising tobacco growers through a government-funded program. The situation turned, she said, after federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz announced in March there would be no government buyout for growers. Now, she said, farmers are facing a situation in which they can’t afford to put in another crop and without government aid are in danger of not being able to make mortgage and debt payments. "For the first time, people are starting to think ‘I can’t stay on the farm.’ Even if they find themselves another job, it’s not going to cover their debt loads," she said. Simcoe Reformer dpearce@bowesnet.com (Daniel Pearce SIMCOE REFORMER ) Canada Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=c57953a3-cb92-47fc-9080-d97f6bf53232 http://tobacco.org/news/265238.html Both Mr. Kemball and Mr. Montour want stricter enforcement, new taxes or both. "Children now have access to cigarettes at pocket money prices," said Mr. Kemball. He cited an analysis of cigarette butts outside school yards in Ontario and Quebec which suggested the penetration of illegal cigarettes amongst children is running at 30%, and up to 70% in some areas of Quebec. "More broadly, all Canadians must be concerned that a culture be allowed to develop of casual law-breaking," he said. His proposal is to introduce a First Nations tobacco tax comparable to the provincial tax. "The proceeds could be used to fund the much needed development programs for the First Nations," . . . The Mohawks do not consider themselves subjects of the Crown. Nor do they recognize that the Canadian government has any legal authority on their land. They may reach the conclusion it is time to impose some form of tobacco tax, especially if they are the beneficiaries, but they are clear it will be their decision. A spokesman for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake said his community would consider such a tax but, even if agreement were reached, it might not stop the flow of illegal tobacco. Tim Thompson, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwasasne, said most of the manufacturing happens on the U. S. side of the border, for sale in Canadian cities, so a tobacco tax would have little effect. "To do so would require the willingness and cooperation of U. S.-based governments and agencies," he said. National Post Canada Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/294490 http://tobacco.org/news/265233.html Finance Minister Victor Boudreau says tobacco taxes can't go higher without having the perverse effect of tempting more New Brunswickers to buy cheaper illegal cigarettes. . . . New Brunswick charges $23.50 in taxes on a carton of cigarettes, up 121 per cent since 2001, says the RCMP report, taking inflation into account. The federal tax is $17. The national RCMP report on the trade said some Canadians see buying illegal cigarettes as "a victimless crime," one that harms nobody but sees "sticking it to the taxman" as a viable reason to participate in the trade. Moncton Times & Transcript Canada Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/18815444.html http://tobacco.org/news/265175.html Politicians across the Lower Mainland are being encouraged to follow White Rock’s lead in implementing anti-smoking bylaws. At a meeting of the Lower Mainland Local Government Association held in Whistler last week, delegates were given a report by its smoking regulations task force, working with Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s chief medical officers. BC Local News Canada Sat, 10 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/293240 http://tobacco.org/news/265116.html Officials with River Valley Health have introduced a new program aimed at helping their patients butt out. The Hotel-Dieu of St. Joseph Hospital in Perth-Andover is the first hospital in the province to introduce the program and will become part of its standard care practices. The program is part of a Health Canada-funded project called The Expansion of Evidence-Based Smoking Cessation Interventions in Canadian Hospitals. Fredericton Daily Gleaner bowie.adam@dailygleaner.com (ADAM BOWIE) Canada Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.ckwstv.com/news/regional-news/20080509-Smoke-Smugglers.html http://tobacco.org/news/265099.html NEWSWATCH'S LIZ COOK HAS REACTION FROM TYENDINAGA TERRITORY, WHERE SMOKES ARE LITERALLY SOLD FOR A DIME A DOZEN. WHEREVER YOU GO ON TYENDINAGA TERRITORY ... YOU'RE BOUND TO DRIVE PAST A "SMOKE SHACK" ... WHERE YOU CAN PICK UP A BAG OF 200 NATIVE CIGARETTES FOR 12 DOLLARS.... ABOUT 70 DOLLARS CHEAPER THAN TAXED CIGARETTES LORI AND AUDIE BRANT HAVE A SMALL STORE ON THE MOHAWK RESERVE ... WHERE THEY SELL TAX FREE NATIVE BAGS OF SMOKES FOR 9 DOLLARS A BAG. -AUDIE AND LORI INTERVIEW ... "WE TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS, YOU CAN SEE WHAT WE HAVE IN THE STORE, WHAT WE SELL.")) THE CHEAP SMOKES ARE A GOOD DEAL FOR SOME SMOKERS ... BUT NOT A GOOD IDEA, ACCORDING TO PUBLIC SAFETY MINISTER STOCKWELL DAY. "THIS IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME CKWS TV Canada Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT