CANADA:Health minister committed to raising tobacco taxes if provinces agree() (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Health minister committed to raising tobacco taxes if provinces agree

by DENNIS BUECKERT -- The Canadian Press  
Canadian Press (1573) 
CANADA;
Date: Monday, 1/11/99
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 OTTAWA (CP) -- Health Minister Allan Rock is committed to raising tobacco
taxes if provincial governments agree. 

 "Obviously the government is committed to raising them (taxes) if we do
get agreement," Rock's spokesman Derek Kent said in an interview Monday. 

 Kent did not know what positions the provinces have taken on the issue,
or what stage talks are at. 

 Ottawa announced a modest cigarette tax increase last February, shortly
before introducing the budget. Health activists are hoping for a repeat
performance this year, but with a more substantial increase. 

 The federal government and some provinces cut tobacco taxes in 1994 to
fight tobacco smuggling, but the smuggling threat has declined since then
due to rising U.S. tobacco taxes. 

 Tobacco prices in Eastern Canada are now lower than in key U.S. states. 

 The average price of a carton of cigarettes in Canadian dollars is $30.86
in Ontario and $31.40 in Quebec, compared with $49.54 in Michigan and
$46.51 in New York, show figures from the Ottawa-based Smoking and Health
Action Foundation. 

 British Columbia now has a significant smuggling problem with tobacco
originating in Ontario and Quebec, Cynthia Callard of Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada noted. 

 "Ontario and Quebec are kind of the basement for prices in North
America," she said. 

 Anti-smoking activists say increased tobacco prices are one of the most
effective levers to deter youth smoking, while the tobacco industry
maintains that price has little to do with the decision on whether to
smoke. 

 Studies in Quebec and Ontario show youth smoking has risen significantly
since the 1994 tax cuts. 

 Callard said the political climate for a tax increase has improved with
the recent conviction of Northern Brands, a subsidiary of tobacco giant
R.J. Reynolds, for its role in a large cigarette smuggling operation.