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.
Canadian smokers won't be lighting up homegrown tobacco if Ottawa accepts a new proposal from a leading anti-smoking group. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada is calling on the federal government to force tobacco companies to fund a buyout of the roughly 850 tobacco farmers nationwide, eliminating the multi-million dollar industry by 2010. "Tobacco consumption is going down, and if tobacco farmers continue to grow tobacco, most will probably lose money and end up just left holding the bag," spokesman Neil Collishaw told The Reminder. "We need to all collectively face the facts and say, 'Look, the future of tobacco farming in this country isn't going anywhere promising at all. Let's bring it to an end.'" The Ottawa-based physician's group has written to federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller suggesting that every tobacco grower be paid roughly $300,000 to leave the business. The total price tag for tobacco companies would be in the neighbourhood of $255 million. The cost of the program would be borne by tobacco companies, either by voluntary payments or through a government-run program, the cost of which would be entirely offset by revenue from new taxes on tobacco. While cigarette companies would simply purchase tobacco from other sources, Collishaw believes an approval of the buyout would help further the anti-smoking cause in Canada. For one, he said, government would no longer have farmer opposition to smoking-related health measures "that should have been implemented a long time ago." Collishaw also believes foreign tobacco might not have the same taste and blend that Canadian smokers have become accustomed to, another incentive to kick the habit. Strengthening the group's case is the fact that Imperial Tobacco, Canada's largest cigarette manufacturer, has for years been "topping up" payments to tobacco farmers to help keep them in business. Recently, however, the company signaled a departure from this practice. "Tobacco companies have certainly taken their fair share out of the smokers' pockets and they've certainly showed willingness to keep the farmers on the hook, so they've shown that they can afford (a buyout)," Collishaw said. Tobacco company officials were not receptive to the buyout proposal. Christina Dona, a spokesperson for Imperial Tobacco, told reporters that the responsibility to assist tobacco growers should come from governments. John McDonald, a spokesperson for Rothmans, Benson and Hedges, accused the physicians' group of "intruding on areas they know nothing about." Even without government approval of the buyout program, Collishaw remains optimistic that smoking in Canada will resume a downward trend. He said the past three years have seen "steep declines" in tobacco usage and his group "will do all it can to ensure that it continues to go down."5/4/04
