The Ontario Legislature should be a place where informed decisions and policy are made on behalf of taxpayers. Sadly, over the past few years I have seen a number of double standards generated at Queen’s Park.
It’s no secret that I was, and remain, opposed to McGuinty’s Smoke-Free Ontario Act-- not because I don’t feel that the health of Ontarians is important, but because it is not sound government policy. The legislation made for good sound-bites on the six o’clock news and it was a feel-good bill for those who don’t have a basic understanding of economics. However, through poor policy, the McGuinty government is losing tax revenue and nearly 40 per cent of cigarette sales have now gone underground.
The infamous Smoke-Free Ontario Act will now force Ontario’s 10,000 convenience stores to hide all tobacco products by month’s end.
Hardworking corner store operators are being forced to dig into their pockets to comply with this legislation; yet, government turns a blind eye to those selling illegal cigarettes to underage children.
Nowhere does this ring more true than in our own riding – specifically in Caledonia.
My colleague Peter Shurman has been hammering away during Question Period. “On the one hand you have got this act that is meant to protect our kids and on the other hand there is non-enforcement,” Shurman recently told the media. “Kids are smoking because they are not carded at the smoke shacks.”
Caledonia residents have reported seeing children returning from smoke shacks with bags of cigarettes on their bicycle handlebars.
We are told 37 per cent of all cigarettes sold in Ontario are illegal – this represents a significant increase from 2007 and the Ontario Convenience Store Association estimates that number will rise to 50 per cent by 2010. This lawlessness has grown out of control.
MPP Shurman asked a very good question: “Why do we spend so much time in the legal market, where we are complying with every law – from age verification to display bans? Why is the same group of people not taking on the illegal market that is now growing?”
My Opposition colleagues and I feel so strongly about this issue that we put forward a motion during Opposition Day just a few weeks ago. PC MPP Laurie Scott asked of Health Promotion Minister Margaret Best: “Why is [Best’s] Ministry allowing an illegal smoke shop that’s selling illegal cigarettes to young people without identification, not paying their fair share of provincial taxes and operating on government-owned land near both an elementary and high school in Caledonia?
Another colleague of mine, MPP Bob Runciman, told the Ontario Legislature about a young corner store operator who said, that within the past month, he has had two inspectors into the store to ensure he is complying with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act; as well, he’s also had an audit and inspections.
While convenience stores knew that they would eventually have to hide their tobacco displays, specific requirements were not sent to operators until the end of January. Owners say that they need more time and government support because dismantling and building new storage units for tobacco products could cost retailers thousands of dollars.
It is clear that the McGuinty government’s war on tobacco has indeed created a dangerous double standard here in Ontario where small business owners struggle and the underground economy flourishes.
|
