Smoking – No to Self-Satisfaction
Today is World No Tobacco Day. In the not-too-distant past, Quebec was a world leader in the fight against tobacco, thanks to the introduction of a series of bold legislative measures, including a number of world precedents. In 1998, Jean Rochon, then Quebec’s minister of health, banned tobacco sponsorship as well as smoking Doina in the workplace. In 2000, Pauline Marois, Rochon’s successor as health minister, chose to reimburse the cost of nicotine-replacement therapies and increase tobacco taxes.
Finally, in 2005, then-health minister Philippe Couillard banned smoking in bars, restaurants and school grounds, the sale of tobacco products in these same places, and retail tobacco displays.
So despite the continued devastation caused by the useless and deadly products of the tobacco industry, Quebec could still celebrate World No Tobacco Day knowing that smoking rates were gradually declining – from 34 per cent in 1996 to 20 per cent in 2006.
This year, however, there is nothing to celebrate. The tobacco industry is winning.
Quebec hasn’t introduced any large-scale measures since it strengthened its Tobacco Act in 2005. Worse, smoking rates have been stuck at 20 per cent for the past five years. This means that every year, tens of thousands of new smokers replace those who quit or die. More than 100,000 youth have started smoking since our current health minister took office in June 2008.
While Quebec invests millions in the fight against contraband, it turns a blind eye to the ongoing predatory marketing practices of legal manufacturers, whose products consist of the main gateway to smoking for youth. Our outdated laws allow the industry to seduce new generations by means of a range of new strategies, such as fruit-flavoured tobacco, packages that mimic electronic gadgets and ultrathin cigarettes that attract girls.
Although Health Minister Yves Bolduc indicated earlier in his term that he would modernize the Tobacco Act in the fall of 2010, nothing has been done to date. It is as if our government is oblivious to tobacco’s top ranking among all preventable causes of death. It kills twice as many Quebecers as suicides, drowning, alcohol, road accidents, illegal drugs, murders and AIDS combined. This inaction is all the more astounding given the current focus on improving access to health care – and the fact that tobacco eats up a third of all the resources for hospitalizations in Quebec.
Meanwhile, Australia has tabled a law requiring plain and generic packaging for all tobacco products, the United States has introduced a quasi-moratorium on new tobacco products, and New York City has banned flavours in almost all tobacco products.
Sadly for Quebecers, the only noteworthy thing about Quebec on this World No Tobacco Day is the complacency of our provincial government in the face of so much ongoing and unnecessary suffering and death.
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