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.
The Canadian Cancer Society, Saskatchewan Division, is encouraged by the growing support for the province's legislation to ban retail tobacco displays. The federal government and the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have filed a notice of intervention in the Supreme Court of Canada's retail display case. "It shows how important this case is and that Saskatchewan is on the right track in trying to protect children from visible tobacco displays in retail establishments," says Donna Pasiechnik, the Society's tobacco control coordinator in Saskatchewan. In March 2002, Saskatchewan adopted precedent-setting legislation to ban visible displays of tobacco products in any premise accessible by minors. In an effort to strike down this critical precedent, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges filed a constitutional challenge. In September 200 the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench upheld the legislation but a year later was overturned on appeal. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled that the ban was in conflict with the federal Tobacco Act and therefore, was invalid. The Saskatchewan Government appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Canada where a decision is expected some time next year. The Saskatchewan case is of national importance. Manitoba passed similar legislation to come into force January 1, 2004. However, the Manitoba Government announced that it would not enforce the ban pending the outcome of the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Nunavut has adopted legislation to prohibit advertising and promotion at point of sale. A committee of the PEI Legislative Assembly recently held hearings on the issue. Such a ban was proposed in a Northwest Territories consultation paper. And the Ontario Government included such as ban in its platform for the 2003 election campaign. "I think we can expect Ottawa and those provinces that have intervened to agree with Saskatchewan that the provincial Tobacco Control Act is fully valid and does not contravene federal laws," says Pasiechnik. "Children should simply not be exposed on a daily basis to promotional displays for cigarettes, an addictive lethal product," says Pasiechnik. "Cigarettes should not be displayed as if they were products such as bubble gum, hockey cards or newspapers. Tobacco companies spend tens of millions of dollars getting their displays into stores to help sell their deadly product. It's one of their most important avenues of promotion, so they're fighting this ban tooth and nail. They want to prevent the entire country from doing what we've done here in Saskatchewan."
