The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Tory Leadership and a Smoke Ban in Manitoba Of course the two topics don't necessarily go together, although anyone attending a PC meeting a decade or more ago would find himself/herself immersed in cigarette or cigar/pipe smoke. It gradually changed Ñ one side of the room would be smoke free, then only smoking at the back of the hall, then outside the room, now not at all except outside the building. As previously noted, reformed Tory smoker Dennis Rocan led the change to ban smoking across the province, something the Doer government has planned for this October, or so they say. Brandon banned smoking in public places in September 2002 and Winnipeg one year later. Gary Doer followed reluctantly with a ban in the Winnipeg casinos. Reports are now surfacing of the economic fallout in the two cities. The Manitoba Hotel Association claims smokers are complying with the bylaw by staying home, with hotel owner's revenue declining by 30%. Of particular concern are small hotels and bars which were profitable only because of VLT revenue. As the executive director said: "They've lost traffic and it's not coming back." He added that the Association must promote the non-smoking environment to attract non-smokers and do something to get the smokers back. A lot of gamblers, perhaps the majority, are smokers, and the ban in casinos is having a significant effect on the profits of the Manitoba Lottery's Corporation with gambling revenue down 7.5 million dollars from September 1 to November 1. Winnipeg's casinos are down 10% with VLT revenues off 21%. Where are the smoking gamblers going? They are heading south to American casinos where they visited prior to the legalizing of gambling in Manitoba. The one rural casino at The Pas, which by all reports is not making tons of money as expected, is likely not looking forward to the expected butt ban in October. Neither are rural hotels, bars and Legions. Good or bad, gambling is a big revenue source for the Province Ð $265 million in 2002, most of which is from VLT's ($137 million). Recently the NDP government ended the ban on Sunday wagering, getting in line with other gambling provinces. Tory critic Ron Schuler criticized this move arguing that this was not necessary and will only increase Manitoba's problem gamblers, which are a substantial number. However the government needs the revenue, which they and the hotel owners are addicted to. Anti-smoking groups and lobbyists constantly promote their cause by citing the great cost to the health care system in North America, by being forced to treat smokers and those suffering second-hand smoke. Lawsuits in the USA in the 1990s cost the tobacco industry $206 billion in settlements as big tobacco was blamed for people smoking and suffering ill health as a result. How about this! A very recent study from a southern university claims that the costs to society of cigarette smoking has been greatly exaggerated. They admit that smokers are less productive and are sick more often than non-smokers, but die earlier, saving society money on pensions, social security and medicare. The researchers claim that non-smokers live longer, racking up large medical costs, pension money and social security payments. These gruesome findings in an upcoming book called "The private and social costs of smoking over the life cycle". Researchers took a hypothetical 24 year-old man and woman smoker and worked out their lifetime smoking costs. Here's what they found. Lifetime smoking costs for a woman was $86,000 and $183,000 for a man. As men die earlier than women, male smokers give up a lot of retirement benefits. They follow by claiming that the average lifetime family costs is $29,000 for men and $16,000 for women. They conclude that the smallest net costs were ones paid by society Ð adding up sick leave, costs to medicare, insurance costs Ð and comparing it to lower retirement benefits, etc. They found that a male smoker costs society only $8,000 and a female $3,800, a fraction of what is generally claimed by anti-smoking groups. By the way, the research was not funded by tobacco companies and was not designed to defend smoking. They claim that the dollar costs should be presented as part of an anti-smoking campaign-particularly to youth Ð of the massive costs to the individual smoker, not society. They certainly have a novel approach, however gruesome. Watch for the book! Getting back to the Tory leadership (all sessions will be smoke free), the national leadership campaign is now in full swing in preparation for the March 19-21 vote. In the race as this is written are Stephen Harper, former Ontario cabinet minister Tony Clement (Tony ran for provincial leadership last time) and surprisingly Belinda Stronach, billionaire head of Magma corporation. Bernard Lord, as usual declined, as did Chuck Strahl, but others are expected. Belinda is not just another pretty face, the 37 year-old is head of the world wide auto parts manufacturing corporation founded by her father Frank, who ran for the Liberals a few elections ago. Her entry into the contest provides a lot of excitement although the sad memory of Kim Campbell may make some Tories hesitate. So far Belinda is talking the right talk, promoting ideas held dear by most Conservatives. She has quite a following so far especially among the Tory youth, and those Tory diehards who can't stand Harper. Keep tuned, more to come.
