Madam Speaker, last week Barb Tarbox died, as she knew she would, from lung cancer caused by smoking.
Many Canadians, especially teens, will know her as a tireless advocate against smoking. Her brutal realism and shock truth was intentional. She was saying to those kids, “Look at what smoking can do to you. Look at my head. Look at what smoking has done to my body. Look at me”. How ironic for a woman who was drop-dead gorgeous and a famous international model to be destroyed by the ravages of lung cancer.
Everyone wants to make their lives count for something but so few of us do. Barb Tarbox died telling kids, “Don't start smoking,” or, on a Nike theme, “Just don't do it”. She made her life count for something and she inspired us all.
Maybe, just maybe, some kid will not start or will quit. God bless Barb Tarbox. She was an inspiration to us all.