If the McGuinty government, the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit tobacco enforcement officers continue to have their way legal tobacco vendors in Cornwall will soon be out of business. Smokes will only be available at your friendly neighbourhood contraband tobacco dealer. Armed with specific clauses in the Smoke Free Ontario Act, tobacco enforcement is punishing legal tobacco vendors with harsh financial penalties for selling one pack of smokes to a minor.
Each health unit in Ontario is autonomous and interprets and enforces the SFOA according to guidelines individual to that unit. In Cornwall, the EOHU tobacco enforcement officers hire minors to conduct compliance checks. A minor, armed with their own ID enters a legal tobacco vendor's premise and attempts to make an illegal tobacco sale (it is against the law to sell tobacco to a minor under 19). When a sale is made the clerk has failed the compliance check and receives a small fine. When the owner does not "satisfy" the tobacco enforcement officer by providing "due diligence" in training employees for tobacco sales protocol, the "vicarious liability" clause kicks in and the owner is also given a fine. The argument being, the employee failed the compliance check due to lack of training. This is considered two convictions.A second, similar, compliance failure at the same location, the clerk and the owner being charged within a five-year period, is considered two more convictions. Two and more convictions result in a mandatory six to 12-month prohibition of legal tobacco sales for the vendor. This penalty is unfair and is financially devastating for small business.
Convicted contraband tobacco dealers are exempt from any financial punishment for selling to minors.
One pack of legal cigarettes sold to a minor could mean financial ruin for a legal tobacco vendor, yet thousands of tax dollars lost to contraband garners the illegal dealer a fine for tax evasion and no penalty for selling tobacco to children.
Legal tobacco vendors should be bound by the same rules as Brewers Retail and the LCBO when selling to minors. We are entitled to protection from negligent employees who show a blatant disregard for their responsibility when selling tobacco. When an employee is not held responsible for their "inaction" through "vicarious liability" it weakens their attitude toward the strict tobacco laws.
Small business is being crushed beneath the weight of punitive legislation that has little to do with promoting a health Ontario. If legal vendors feel strongly about the punishments they are receiving from health unit tobacco enforcement and the SFOA legislation speak up, loud and clear. Votes can speak louder than words.
Cyndi MacMillanCornwall