Health committee  I think there were about a dozen people. Four or five of us—all of the people at this table—were involved in the consultations on a regular basis over several years. So there's no question that the exchange, the interaction, between the health organizations and Health Canada improved the warnings from where they were in the beginning.

Health committee  There is a term that has been used in the past in the public health business about hard-to-reach groups. Kids are a hard-to-reach group, and when you put a lot of resources into reaching a hard-to-reach group, you in fact can increase your morbidity and mortality, because resources are being taken away from the groups that you can influence.

Health committee  Certainly. From my perspective, I'd be glad to clarify. We were consulted on the warnings. At no time was I or my organization consulted about the introduction of, the replacement of, or the slowing down of the process for social media. At no time were we offered the opportunity to talk about whether or not a focus on contraband would in fact require that the department not proceed with the warnings.

Health committee  I'll just do a brief introduction. When we go for plain packaging, the most effective packaging, which we will without question encourage, is a shell and slide package, because it has an interior warning system. One of the things they are trying to do, to be frank, is switch the market away from the shell-and-slide package to the flip-top box.

Health committee  No.

Health committee  I'll let my colleagues address this because this is not my file. But I know that in my organization there have been discussions about contraband. I must point out that in the six years of consultations that went on over the warnings, social media was never on the agenda. It was never discussed.

Health committee  I'm a unilingual anglophone and handicapped.

Health committee  A strong recommendation from the committee to move on the warnings would be extremely helpful. I think the complete production of the documents.... It's true that it might cost something to produce the documents, but on the other hand, it's going to cost a lot more to leave them wasting on a shelf.

Health committee  There's no credible reason the warnings can't come forward while they continue to work on social media, if they believe there is a strategy there that might work. But the fact is, at the moment there is no credible evidence that social media would even come close to replacing the warnings.

Health committee  Took the product off the market.

Health committee  Frankly, there's been a royal commission on the steel industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the marine industry, and virtually every industry, including the potato industry. There has never been a royal commission on the tobacco industry. This situation is almost inexplicable, but it's true.

Health committee  To my knowledge, no one in the health community was advised that the whole process had been suspended until it came out in The Globe and Mail or came out of the provinces. We certainly were not given that information.

Health committee  An honest answer would be that the department knows full well the importance of plain and standardized packaging, but the enthusiasm was especially significant for standardized packaging, because the multitude of packages in the marketplace makes it very, very difficult to draft regulations for regulating this industry when it comes to packaging.

Health committee  Two sentences, Madam Chair. There is no credible reason for these warnings to be blocked. We are asking you to do whatever you can to bring the new warnings forward. I know everybody on this panel would like to see these warnings, no matter what's said, and I encourage you. Thank you.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to members of the committee for the opportunity to address you in relation to your inquiry into the government's decision not to proceed with implementation of Health Canada's tobacco package warnings—the new ones. I'm the executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, founded 35 years ago.