Mr. Speaker, that is really unfortunate. Of course I disagree with pretty much every statement the member made. She seems to be providing more misinformation and making more personal attacks instead of working with the government on this important issue.
I am pleased to rise this evening to discuss our government's commitment to tobacco control and our continued efforts to protect youth in particular.
As members are aware, the Minister of Health has indicated that the department continues to examine the renewal of health warning messages on tobacco packaging. I am pleased to outline for the House today what has been done to date and what remains to be completed on the project.
Canada is a world leader in tobacco control. However, no country in the world with a similar political and economic environment has a lower smoking rate. Only 18% of Canadians smoke and 13% smoke daily. This is a substantial decline from the over 50% who smoked in 1965.
Successive tobacco control strategies and actions since the 1990s, a strong Tobacco Act, collaboration with the provinces, territories, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, as well as the changing attitudes of Canadians toward smoking have all contributed to the smoking rate of 18%.
We are encouraged by the results of the recent Canadian tobacco use monitoring survey which showed that fewer young Canadians are smoking. In 2009, 286,000 teens were smoking, which at 13% is the lowest smoking rate recorded for this age group since Health Canada first reported smoking prevalence.
I am also very pleased to note that the smoking rate among young adults, that is, those 20 to 24 years of age, has decreased significantly to a low of 23%. This is an important change given that this is the age group with the highest smoking prevalence.
The health and well-being of our children is a priority for the Government of Canada. That is why we have followed through on our commitment to protect young people from tobacco industry marketing practices that encourage them to smoke.
Last fall we made changes to the Tobacco Act which will make it harder for industry to entice young people to use tobacco products.
Specifically, we put in place additional restrictions on tobacco advertising to address what had become a substantial increase in tobacco advertising in publications that were easily accessible to young people.
We also established minimum packaging contents for little cigars and blunt wraps, putting an end to the tobacco industry's practice of selling these products in single units or in kiddie packs that were obviously too attractive and easily affordable for youth.
Finally, we banned flavours in little cigars, cigarettes and blunt wraps, sending an important message to tobacco manufacturers that marketing tobacco to youth will not be tolerated.
Canada's banning of flavours and additives recently received acclaim from 130 countries that participated at the Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which was held in November in Uruguay. In fact, the Conference of Parties agreed to embed this idea as a key best practice for countries to adopt in the guidelines to support the regulation of tobacco content and emissions.
Clearly the government's actions position Canada as a world leader in tobacco control.
Regarding health warning messages, Canada was the world leader in implementing full colour pictorial messages covering 50% of cigarette packages in 2000, and many countries have since followed suit.
Canada is also one of the few countries in the world to have rigorously tested the effectiveness of health warning messages. Our results indicate that the messages encourage smokers to quit and discourage youth from starting to smoke.
Health warning messages on tobacco packaging are an important tool but they must be factored into a larger tobacco control strategy. Hard-hitting health warning messages on the dangers of tobacco should not be a stand-alone initiative.
The social environment has changed significantly since health warning messages were introduced 10 years ago. It is a good time to refocus our efforts to ensure the warnings reach the largest number of smokers possible while remaining effective and cost efficient.
While the research conducted in recent years on potential images for new health warning messages has allowed refinement and ensured they appeal to a wide spectrum of smokers, we recognize there are better--