PHA-Exch> Canada: Tobacco smuggling agreement fails justice and fails health

[Claudio Schuftan]

*From:* Cynthia Callard [mailto:ccallard at smoke-free.ca]


*July 31, 2008*

*Tobacco smuggling agreement fails justice and fails health *

*Physicians plea for better approach
than corporate plea bargain  (excerpts)*

Today's announcement by the government of Canada that it had settled with
two of the three multinational tobacco companies which supported and
profited from the sale of untaxed cigarettes in the early 1990s is a
disappointment, said Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.

Neither public justice nor public health are served by this conclusion to
this long outstanding crime. Although the corporations entered a guilty
plea, the individuals who oversaw the crime have been allowed to retire in
peace. They have not been held to account for their role and will now never
be held to account. Senior management - including many of the most prominent
Canadian business figures - have been allowed to walk free.

Although the government will receive over a billion dollars in this
arrangement, it will receive nothing to compensate for the revenue lost as a
result of its being strong-armed into reducing taxes in the 1990s. "In
essence, the government has settled for only pennies on the dollar.

PSC also raised concerns about the failure to include measures to address
the victims of the crime for which the companies plead guilty, especially
those children who started smoking in the 1990s because cigarettes were
cheaper and who are now addicted adult smokers. In 1990, before the growth
of the contraband market, only 21% of Canadians aged 15-19 were smokers. By
the mid 1990s, the percentage had grown to over 25%. By 2006, after taxes
were restored, the smoking rate for the age group had fallen to 16%.

Particularly concerning s the secrecy with which this agreement was
negotiated. It's more of a business deal than a sentence; government and
tobacco industry officials assessed their circumstances situation and
brokered a mutually agreeable conclusion in isolation. There was no public
disclosure and there was no input from those affected other than government
revenue departments. Nor are the conditions agreed to by the companies
directly intended to reduce tobacco use. Neither the health community nor
government health ministries were allowed input into this decision. If so,
this is more than a lost opportunity, it is a failure for public health.

Cynthia Callard
Executive Director
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada

www.smoke-free.ca
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