Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the motions in Group No. 3.
The previous speaker just spent some time talking about the impact of tobacco advertising on Quebec and that it is a good thing that the Bloc is here. Canadians know it is not a good thing that the Bloc is here and I think Quebecers know it as well.
In the last reported period the cost of smoking in Quebec totalled $4.1 billion. That puts in context what the alternative is. Members of the Bloc are now saying that this is going to cost jobs at events such as car races, and cultural events are going to disappear and all the economic benefit will be lost.
What does that say about the value of the lives of Canadians to members of the Bloc Quebecois? I am not going to dwell on that. I think members of the Bloc have made their position clear. They hold the value of commerce much higher than the value of the citizens of our country.
I want to speak very briefly about the issue of sponsorship. Earlier in the debate I raised the fact that the representatives of tobacco companies did not choose to appear before the Standing Committee on Health to represent their interests. In fact, they sent cultural and sporting groups and organizations whose events they sponsor.
Although the representatives of tobacco companies did not appear before the committee, they were quite active before the hearings of the Standing Committee on Health took place. They made representations by sending letters to citizens, members of Parliament. They had advertisements in newspapers and made television appearances. They did not come before the House of Commons committee, face to face, to be questioned and to provide facts. They were telling it their way, on their terms, and in a way which did not provide all the facts.
I want to refer to one of the ads from a newspaper. They claim that the restrictions under Bill C-71 make the sponsorship of any event commercially untenable.
The tobacco companies continue to use the words "ban advertising and promotion". The fact is that tobacco companies will not be banned from advertising and promoting events. Some would argue that advertising should be banned, as I am told it will be in the United States, a total ban. In Canada there will be restrictions, not a ban. It means that the tobacco companies will still be able to advertise fully in magazines, direct mail solicitation for support and sponsorship of their events. They will still be able to occupy 10 per cent of a poster size even where they can be seen by children.
However, there will be some restrictions. No longer will an entire venue be totally coloured and plastered with the name of a cigarette brand. The exclusive sponsor of an event will still be able to be identified. They will continue to have that right.
I makes me wonder exactly where these events are going to go. The tobacco companies want to advertise. Obviously they are advertising because they feel there is some benefit to it. In letters we have received, some have said they do not know anyone who has gone to a tennis match, came out and said: "I want to start smoking because I was at that tennis match".
It is not that easy. The promotion of any product involves a multiplicity of approaches. It involves colours, sounds and different venues, different medias.
We have some examples. In 1992 the French government banned tobacco sponsorship and promotion. Throughout the debate, just as we are having here, the opposition to the government said that events, such as the Grand Prix, would be gone as a result of the ban. The Grand Prix circuit would withdraw. In fact, the organizers went so far as to announce that the French Grand Prix would be pulled from the 1993 circuit if the legislation went through.
What are the facts? The legislation did go through, the 1993 French Grand Prix did go ahead as scheduled as did the 1994, 1995 and 1996 Grand Prix. That is just one example. There are many other examples of where threats, directly or indirectly, by the tobacco companies are simply a bunch of smoke. They have absolutely no relevance to what really will happen. In fact, some have characterized it as a cliché of Chicken Little, "the sky is falling". Everything is going to fall apart.
Most members of Parliament have received letters from the Alliance for Sponsorship Freedom. It represents itself as an alliance of concerned organizations and sponsors of arts, sports, fashion and entertainment events in Canada. Let us look at these poor organizations who, on behalf of the tobacco companies, are saying: "The sky is falling and our events are going to be cancelled if you do this".
Here is just an indication of what are the real facts with respect to how much somebody gets through tobacco sponsorship. People are talking about Just for Laughs, which is a Quebec based cultural event, and about how terrible it is going to be for Canadians because Just for Laughs will be gone. The fact is that Just for Laughs only receives 10 per cent of its budget from tobacco money. Are the Bloc Quebecois going to convince Canadians that Just for Laughs is going to disappear because it loses 10 per cent of its sponsorship funding? Nonsense.
Members of the Neptune Theatre in Halifax also speak on behalf of this alliance. How much does the Neptune Theatre receive? This is for the people who said it was awful about tobacco sponsorship being restricted. The Neptune Theatre only receives one-half of 1 per cent of its revenue from tobacco money. Is the Neptune Theatre going to go out of business because it loses one-half of 1 per cent of its revenue? Nonsense.
Representations of Players Grand Prix de Canada also speak on behalf of the the Alliance for Sponsorship Freedom. The Grand Prix de Canada receives only one-fifth of its revenues from tobacco money. Again I must ask the question: Is the Grand Prix de Canada going to disappear simply because of the loss of one-fifth of its revenues from tobacco money?
Finally, a 1995 Canadian Conference of the Arts study of 78 arts groups across Canada found that 60 per cent of the surveyed groups received less than 1 per cent of their revenues from tobacco money. In fact, 86 per cent received less than 5 per cent of the revenues from tobacco.
It is very clear from the examples I have given that the tobacco companies have come across a brilliant, superior strategy to deal with a fatal situation in their business. They are going out of business and we know that. We cannot find a place to smoke legally any more in municipal and public buildings in Canada. The Canadian people are making it very clear that the importance is not the commercial benefit of businesses like the tobacco companies. It is the health and welfare of Canadians. It is what the government has brought forward in Bill C-71. It is what the Minister of Health, day after day, has been fighting for in this place. Notwithstanding the Bloc Quebecois and others saying how terrible it is, it is the right thing to do.
As legislators, we are elected to do the right thing and the health of Canadians must come before the profits of the tobacco companies.
I just want to repeat the impact of tobacco on Canada: some $3.5 billion in direct health care costs and about $15 billion in comprehensive costs, whether it be social program costs, productivity costs, et cetera, and 40,000 lives lost every year.
We know from research statistics that if a person does not start smoking by the age of 19, it is very likely that person will not become a smoker. It is also clear to the tobacco companies that that is the case. It is clear from their strategies that their target audience is young people. This Minister of Health has been defending Bill C-71 on behalf of the youth of Canada. I am proud to support it and
I know this House will support the excellent legislation and the health of Canadians as represented in Bill C-71.