All right.
Most recently, May 21, after having written to every member of Parliament asking for their support in getting Health Canada to actually do research on this, after having sent in submissions, after having written to the department asking them to do research on these products, I finally got a meeting with Dr. Murray Kaiserman.
I actually took the time to read the research, from the youth smoking survey to the Canadian tobacco use monitoring survey. I looked at all of that; that's what I've done all my life. So I met with Murray and I said, “Listen, Murray, I don't understand this. From everything I see, this is a non-issue. The vast majority of people who consume these products are of legal age to do so. The majority are over the age of 25. Does Health Canada have any relevant research that in the least tells us who's consuming exactly which products, in what quantities they're consuming it, the frequency of their consumption, the origin of the product they're consuming—is it contraband, is it legal, is it native?—the source of this product, where they are getting it from, and/or how flavours impact the decision for anyone, let alone kids, to decide to start smoking or continue smoking?” Murray says to me, “No, Luc, we don't have that type of research.” Obviously, they had research with regard to emissions testing and so forth. I said, “Well, are you planning on undertaking any research?” He said, “No, and I'll tell you why, and it's for two reasons, Luc. Number one, the market is too small.” I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Well, the market is too small, so that whatever research we could do through CTUMS would be unreliable, in terms of data. We'd have to do specific research. And number two, we're not going to be doing any research. The reality is, if we don't do research, we don't have to release findings to the public.”
Then he also said something interesting to me. He said, “You know, Luc, it's not only an issue that minors are getting access”, and he conceded that the vast majority of people who consume flavoured little cigars and cigarillos are of legal age to do so, as mandated by the Government of Canada. He said, “The problem, Luc, is that the products look good, and it's against the spirit of what we're doing here to allow any product to be appealing to any-age smoker.”
I took that, basically, to be Health Canada breaching its mandate of education information, basically forcing lifestyle choices on people whom they've given the right to make that choice.
I know you're talking to Health Canada later on today. Ask them the very specific question: Do you have any data that tells us in what packaging format people are consuming these? We're talking about banning singles because they're so affordable for kids. How do you know that kids are actually purchasing these singles? Health Canada has absolutely no research.
Not long ago, the Government of Ontario would have passed the law; it's still not enacted. I had the exact same discussion with ministry officials and departmental officials, who basically said, we don't have research, we're not going to do research, we're not going to monitor it because it's too expensive, we've had no discussions with the RCMP and the OPP to find out how this will impact contraband, and we have no specific health objectives. They had no expectations about what would happen if you ban these products. Do you think these products will actually cease to exist? Do you think kids will not be consuming these products? Do you Canadian will not be consuming these products?
It's the same situation we have here with Health Canada. There is absolutely no research that supports in any way banning singles or banning any flavour. We actually have a government that has no specific health objectives or expectations, and my sense is that it's so we can't hold them accountable for it.
The reality is that largely everything that's been publicly promoted about the products, the market and the industry, is tantamount to an outright lie. It's not a new product. Cigarillos are not a new product to the marketplace. It's not big tobacco that's behind these things. It's not big cigarette companies who are manufacturing these things. We don't have candy and ice cream flavours in these little cigars and cigarillos. These flavours exist in blunt wraps, which aren't meant for smoking tobacco, as everybody knows. And in terms of it being price-affordable, Murray actually was nice enough to agree with me that it's actually cost-prohibitive to have a unit sale of $1.25. The cheapest cigarillo on the market is still ten times more expensive than a contraband cigarette.