From: Financial Post
Eric Gagnon: The answer to reducing the number of smokers is not, and has never been, plain packaging
It is with cynicism that we notice that Bill S-5 – Canada’s tobacco plain-packaging bill – concluded its second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday. After all, as Australia was marking (but hardly celebrating) the fifth anniversary of its introduction of tobacco plain packaging last week, the most recent government data show that the policy has wholly failed to reduce smoking rates across the country. Not only has the policy not achieved its stated aims, but the Department of Health has admitted that the post-plain-packaging era marks the first time-period in over 20 years during which smoking rates have not declined.
