When times are tough, an easy target is a politician's best friend. And as targets go, Big Tobacco is one of the easiest.
After all, who's going to take issue with the government picking on tobacco companies? Big Tobacco profits off of a product that contributes to the death of more than 45,000 Canadians per year, according to Health Canada. At least one company, and likely many more, suppressed evidence from studies conducted in the late 1960s through the mid-80s that proved smoking is harmful. These companies also deliberately targeted young and/or low-income consumers through advertisements - until the government banned them from doing so.
That's why it's hard to fault the Quebec government for following in the footsteps of B.C. and Ontario in announcing their intention to sue the tobacco industry. Quebec is the eighth provincial government to introduce legislation designed to recover some of the billions of dollars spent on health care costs associated with smoking. The provincial movement is largely modelled after a similar US initiative that led to a $245-billion settlement between America's four largest tobacco companies and 46 state governments in 1998.
However, we unfortunately find ourselves agreeing with the Big Tobacco spokespersons that have called the provincial lawsuits an example of "sheer hypocrisy." Tobacco is a heavily regulated, heavily taxed industry off of which the Quebec government collects more than $700 million per year. It takes a twisted leap of logic for the government to endorse tobacco as a legal product, yet claim tobacco companies should be responsible for Quebecers' poor choices. The consequences of smoking have been known for decades - it's just that individual smokers choose to ignore these health warnings.
If additional funding needs to be raised to offset smoking-related illnesses, then the government should do so directly - by raising the tax levied against cigarettes. Consumers are going to pay for any money awarded in a lawsuit through higher cigarette prices - the Quebec government might as well skip the hypocritical court case and increase the one tax that Canadians don't seem to mind being raised. Taxing tobacco - now that's an easy target.
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