Speech by the Minister of Health The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq - Proposed Tobacco Labelling Regulations

This content was archived on June 24, 2013.

September 27, 2011
Ottawa

Check Against Delivery

Good Morning,

Thank you Mrs. Abercrombie for that kind introduction. And thanks to all of you, the students of Fisher Park School, for welcoming us to your classroom.

As I was preparing to come speak to you today, I thought about how things have changed when it comes to smoking.

It may sound strange to you, but there was a time not that long ago - perhaps some of your teachers remember it - when people could smoke in places like movie theatres, on buses, in offices, and even in the staff room at schools like this one!

So much has changed. Not only is smoking banned in most public places, but fewer people smoke.

And that's a good thing.

Smoking used to be seen as cool, but attitudes are changing as people understand how bad smoking is for you. In Canada, that's thanks, in part, to our tobacco labels.

For more than a decade we have required tobacco packages to include graphic images, with clear warnings like; "cigarettes are addictive" and "don't poison us."

They have worked well but we want to make them bigger, more noticeable and easier to understand.

I brought some examples here with me today so you can be some of the first people in the country to see them. If I could have some help from your teacher and Mackenzie Tarbox.

These are the new graphic images that smokers will soon start seeing on tobacco packages.

They're pretty gross. They may even be a bit scary. But that's the reality of smoking.

Over time people get used to seeing the old pictures, so we want to grab people's attention once again.

And that includes you.

Did you know that if you don't ever try smoking before you turn 18, the chances are very good that you will never become a regular smoker?

That's why we have messages from real people telling you about what smoking did to their life.

There is one picture that is particularly shocking. It's this one; it's a picture of a woman dying of lung cancer.

Her name was Barb Tarbox. When she was young, she started smoking and she could never quit. Not even after she had been diagnosed with cancer.

Barb didn't want young people like you to suffer like she did. During the last months of her life, she travelled across the country speaking to young people to convince them to not take up smoking.

She died when she was 42. But before she died, she had these pictures taken so that they could be used to show others what could happen to them if they start smoking.

As you know, Pat Tarbox, who was Barb's husband at the time, and their daughter Mackenzie are here today. I'm glad they can tell you first-hand what it means to have Barb's photo on tobacco packages.

There's a phone number on the new packages that people can call and a websites people can check out to get help quitting.

In the new rules our government has passed, we will also permanently end the use of the terms "light" and "mild", on tobacco products. We want it to be clear that there's no such thing as a safer cigarette.

There has been a steady decrease in the number of smokers in Canada and we are going to do everything we can to keep that up.

Personally, I hope that one day we can make smoking a thing of the past.

Thank you.