Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I am pleased to deposit a petition today from residents of virtually every province from coast to coast in Canada.
The petitioners suggest that research conducted by Health Canada shows that the number of people, particularly teenagers, who smoke increases as the cost of cigarettes goes down. Tobacco products are clearly linked to forms of cancer, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and many other illnesses. Given the fact that tobacco products contain over 4,000 chemicals of which at least 43 cause cancer in humans and that the use of tobacco products is directly responsible for the premature death of some 38,000 Canadians annually tobacco can rightly be termed a hazardous product.
Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to remove the exemption for tobacco under the Hazardous Products Act.