For immediate release:
August 03, 2007

Thirty-two per cent of smokes are illegal
McGuinty’s ‘war on tobacco’ a joke according to Barrett

Simcoe: Statistics show that illegal cigarette smoking has risen to 32 per cent – up from 23 per cent in 2006.

“McGuinty’s war on tobacco is a joke,” said Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP Toby Barrett. “Through increased taxes and the smoke-free Ontario, Premier McGuinty has deep-sixed our area economy and hung farmers out to dry.”

A George Morris Centre report issued this week states “the decline in production and revenue are due to increases in Canadian imports of tobacco, both in terms of legal and illicit imports.”

The George Morris Centre is based in Guelph and is Canada’s Independent Agri-food think tank.

“Our previous government realized that increased tobacco taxes fed an underground economy back in the ‘90’s but the McGuinty government today insists they increase taxes to curb smoking habits,” Barrett said. “What they are really doing is fuelling crime and forcing people to smoke cigarettes where the composition is unknown.

“Further, when it comes to youth smoking, our young people are buying smokes out of car trunks where the seller doesn’t ask for identification,” Barrett continued.

Barrett said that this most recent report makes the case that government, both provincially and federally, has a responsibility to provide financial compensation to tobacco farmers for the havoc it has wreaked on their economy and livelihood over the years.

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For more information please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (519) 428-0446 or

1-800-903-8629