Canadian Convenience Stores Association Addresses Parliament With Contraband Tobacco Concerns

Contraband tobacco sales account for nearly one-third of all tobacco sales in Canada ? a 98% increase since 2006.

April 29, 2010

OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) addressed Canada€™s parliament earlier this week concerning contraband tobacco.

Speaking before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, CCSA President Dave Bryans urged Canada€™s government "to end the scourge of contraband tobacco."

Bryans noted that contraband tobacco is an increasing problem in Canada, "endemic in Ontario and Quebec" and spreading to the Atlantic Provinces as well as westward.

Bryans said that in 2008, contraband tobacco accounted for 48.6% of cigarettes purchased in Ontario, 40% in Quebec and 9.7% in the Atlantic Provinces. Nationwide, the figure stands at 32.7% €" a 98% increase since 2006. The issue is of particular importance to smoking among youth, as the access to cheap, illegal cigarettes has undermined public health efforts at smoking cessation.

"The sheer scale of the lawlessness is almost unimaginable," Bryans said, who went on to urge MPs to direct attention at ports of entry, where much of the contraband tobacco enters Canada.

"If there is one thing members of this committee take away from our session here today, it is the location of the Port of Entry at Cornwall. It is imperative that the Port of Entry remain on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River, as it has made it much more difficult for smugglers to transport contraband into Canada. Moving the Port of Entry back to Cornwall Island or onto the southbank of the St. Lawrence will return the situation back to one of last spring, when contraband was flooding into Canada."

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