Mr. Speaker, I am glad of the opportunity to speak to Bill C-42, an act to amend the Tobacco Act. I do not think anyone in the House would minimize the importance of this act.
Tobacco consumption poses one of the most serious risks we have to the health of Canadians. I was very glad to hear the Minister of Health say that in the House today in answer to a question during question period. I am just sorry that he chose to send one of his lower echelon members of the health committee to speak rather than himself because it shows I guess the kind of importance he attaches to the bill.
Even those people who choose to use tobacco products will agree that it is a lifestyle choice that could lead to serious illness or early death. There are literally thousands of studies by competent health care professionals that attest to this fact. The issue of risk to health is not really the issue here. It is rather the one of whether the government takes seriously its role through Health Canada to protect the health interests of Canadians.
I suggest that in presenting Bill C-42 the government is not fully accepting this responsibility. It is a step in the right direction but it hardly goes far enough. Why in the world would we in the Reform Party oppose the bill when it ostensibly purports to decrease the influence of the tobacco industry over the general public and young people in particular? Simply put, because it will not really do that in the long run. Why do I say that?
First of all, it allows tobacco companies to use retail ads and billboards to advertise cigarettes to children. Ten years have passed since parliament first told the tobacco companies to take their advertising material out of the corner stores of this nation, to get them off the streets of Canada. Instead, Bill C-42 continues to give the tobacco companies another two years to reach Canadian kids on their way to school and in the stores they frequent. That is just not acceptable. If the government and the minister were really concerned about our children they would shut the door tomorrow.
I have eight children. Three of the four oldest had brief times in their lives when they smoked. I am happy to say that none of them smokes today, but it was not because of the government's poor attempt to curtail the advertising of tobacco products when they were in their teenage years. It was because of good peer pressure from both family and friends who continued to remind them of the terrible health risks of smoking: the threat of cancer of the lungs and throat, the damage to a healthy heart that is sustained by prolonged smoking, breathing that becomes hard and laboured, fingers that are discoloured, not to mention the damage that second hand smoke does to innocent children and family members who have exercised their right not to smoke.
In two years' time how many children will begin to smoke because of the advertising campaigns of the big tobacco companies? How many will get cancer in later years? How many will eventually die? Do the minister and the government want to have the blood of these young people on their hands? I urge the government to reconsider the bill and force the tobacco companies to cease this advertising immediately.
I cannot support the bill also because it allows lifestyle advertising of cigarettes to continue. The Tobacco Act says tobacco companies can advertise but not with lifestyle ads. In my estimation that is entirely appropriate. These are the ads that somehow convey to young people that smoking is fun. There is no fun in shortness of breath, no fun in irregular heartbeats, no fun in the loss of taste and smell, no fun in the pain of lingering cancer, no fun in that at all.
Third, I cannot support the bill because it does not guarantee that sponsorship promotion will end in the five years as promised. The government would have Canadians believe that Bill C-42 will make sure there is a total ban on sponsorship in five years. But the way the date is set allows the government to reset the clock and allow further extensions without coming back to parliament. That is wrong and furthermore it is undemocratic.
Clause 5 of section 52 says: “The governor in council may by regulation prescribe a day for the purposes of—”, that is beginning the countdown to restrictions and ban of cigarette sponsorship ads.
What that means is that using “may” instead of “shall” allows the government to give a permanent extension by neglecting to set the date. It means this government can test the political wind and see which way it is blowing and continue to stall on this if it is not to its political advantage.
It means that the powerful tobacco lobby will have more opportunity to influence the government's decision. It means this government, if it continues in office for the next five years, perish the thought, could simply let this thing slowly disappear into the sunset never to be heard of again. I believe Canadians feel that is totally unacceptable. It shows once again little regard for the health of Canadians.
I also cannot support this bill because allowing sponsorship advertising has already increased the retail advertising of cigarettes. A Health Canada survey shows that since the Tobacco Act came into force, retail advertising for cigarettes has actually gone up.
Health Canada has commissioned two surveys of tobacco advertising in retail outlets conducted by A.C. Neilson of approximately 5,000 retailers. The first survey was conducted in 1997 when there was no legislative ban on tobacco advertising. The second was conducted in September 1997, five months after the passage of the Tobacco Act.
What are the results? In five months the survey showed a 1.4% increase in sponsorship ads. These ads very subtly allow a local event, perhaps held in Pumpkin Corners, B.C., which would draw perhaps 1,000 people locally, to be advertised in over 10,000 retail outlets across the country. Why? At the bottom of the ad prominently displayed is the name of the tobacco company as the sponsor of an event that has relevance only to the 1,000 souls in Pumpkin Centre. From my point of view that is not honest advertising and it should not be allowed.
The big events like the Canadian Grand Prix have maintained that without this kind of advertising and support from the tobacco companies they will simply fold up and die. This claim, however, is not holding up in the face of reality. For example, the Canadian Grand Prix, as my colleague has already mentioned, has a new title sponsor in Air Canada replacing Players, a cigarette brand.
If an event is an outstanding contributor to the Canadian cultural or sports scene it will find a sponsor who will see it as a great and glorious opportunity to advertise their company or product. These events do not need tobacco advertising to exist.
It is for these reasons that I cannot support this bill. My only hope is that as it comes to the health committee for study we will see an all party consensus to make substantial amendments to it that will truly make it a bill that will safeguard the health of Canadians. If it passes third reading the way it is it will be just another example of an uncaring Liberal government that listens to big business before ordinary Canadians, a government that procrastinates while the health of young people is in jeopardy, a government that, as in many other instances, does not keep its word.
I urge all caring members of this House to oppose this bill.