The NDP introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban the sale of cigarillos and other candy- or fruit-flavoured tobacco products in B.C.
Opposition health critic Judy Darcy said tobacco companies aim the products directly at youth by designing packages that look like candy or cosmetics, masking the harsh taste with candy or fruit flavours, and selling single items for as little as $1.
“This is part and parcel of a very slick and very effective marketing strategy on behalf of the tobacco companies, and it’s targeting these flavoured cigarillos, flavoured tobacco products specifically at youth,” she said. “And the bad news is it’s working.”
Darcy cited a national survey that found 53 per cent of youth tobacco users in B.C. had used flavoured tobacco products. “That’s over 30,000 B.C. students,” she said.
The B.C. and Yukon branch of the Canadian Cancer Society contends that flavoured tobacco makes it easier for young people to get addicted.
Last November, the society urged B.C. to follow the lead of Ontario and Alberta and introduce legislation banning the products.
But B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said in January that, while he opposes flavoured tobacco, he would prefer to see the federal government take the lead and tighten rules across the country.
Lake held to that position on Wednesday, saying he has written twice to federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose urging action. He said the province will introduce its own legislation if the Canadian government fails to act, but he made no promises about when that might be.
“You can’t bring a piece of legislation overnight,” he said. “So the earliest we would be able to do that is the fall, if we were to go down that route.”
Darcy called on the all parties to act with more urgency.
“We’re saying don’t wait till summer, don’t wait till fall,” she said. “Do it now. Let’s join together on a non-partisan basis — both sides of the house — and support this legislation.”
But Lake said Darcy’s legislation, like all Opposition bills, has no hope of passing.
“They never do,” he said. “They’re not the government; they don’t get to make the laws.
“They’re being politically opportunistic. Let’s face it, they know they don’t have a chance of getting this bill passed; they’re trying to make a statement — a statement that we have already made that we are against flavoured tobacco, that we will take action if the federal government does not.”
