OTTAWA, ON –
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) welcomes the Conservative Party of Canada’s commitment in its election platform to implement an annual fee on the tobacco industry to recover the cost of the federal government’s tobacco control strategy.
“The tobacco industry has caused the tobacco epidemic and should be held accountable by paying for government costs to respond to the epidemic,” says Rob Cunningham, Senior Policy Analyst, CCS. “The annual cost recovery fee on the tobacco industry is similar in approach to the existing federal annual cannabis cost recovery fee and to the approach in the US by the Food and Drug Administration with its annual fee on the tobacco industry.”
A national August 2019 Ipsos opinion poll found that 87% of Canadians supported “a measure that would make Canadian tobacco companies pay the costs of Health Canada’s programs to reduce youth smoking.”
The Canadian Cancer Society also welcomes the Conservative Party of Canada’s platform commitment of $15 million to implement the Framework on Palliative Care in Canada. Palliative care has been repeatedly shown to have a significant and positive impact for people with cancer and their family caregivers. Approximately 80-90% of Canadians receiving palliative care are living with cancer.
About tobacco use in Canada
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in Canada, killing 45,000 Canadians annually, including about 30% of all cancer deaths. While significant progress has been made, there are still 5 million Canadians who smoke and an unacceptably high number of young people who begin smoking each year. Moreover, rates of youth vaping are increasing dramatically. An enormous amount of work needs to be done on a pressing basis to reduce youth vaping and to achieve the objective of under 5% of Canadians using tobacco by 2035.
About the Canadian Cancer Society
The Canadian Cancer Society is a national community-based organization whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer. When you want to know more about cancer, visit our website www.cancer.ca or call our toll-free, bilingual Cancer Information Service at 1 888 939-3333.
For more information, please contact:
Nuala McKee
Manager, Public Engagement & Advocacy Communications
Canadian Cancer Society
National Office
Phone: 416-934-5324