OTTAWA - The federal government's plan for a bold in-your-face anti-smoking campaign takes clear aim at young people, new Canadians and smokers who struggle with literacy.
But tobacco companies say the new warnings will have little effect on a population that is already well aware of the health risks.
And health advocates question the government's resolve to actually go through with the campaign.
"If we get this out, it will be a major blow to the industry," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, emphasizing the "if."
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced on Thursday her intention to cover 75 per cent of cigarette packages — both front and back — with blunt warnings about the health effects of smoking. That's up from the current 50 per cent.
The labels will carry 16 different messages that will be rotated so that they don't lose their effectiveness over time.
The messages will be large, simple and visually striking, officials say, so that they appeal to groups the current warnings have difficulty reaching — youth, people who don't speak English or French well, or people who have trouble reading.
The labelling will be backed up with a secondary campaign to use social media and highlight death-bed testimony from anti-smoking crusader Barbara Tarbox before she succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 42.
The social media strategy, to be rolled out soon, is designed to appeal specifically to young people. About 23 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 24 are smokers, compared to a national average of 18 per cent, Aglukkaq said.
Plus, the federal and provincial governments have agreed in principle to set up a national "quit" line to help reluctant smokers give up the practice, she said.
But the warnings on packaging will need new regulations and public consultation, as well as a transition period for cigarette manufacturers, before they take effect. So consumers probably won't see the new packaging for another year, even if all goes as planned.
With the whiff of a 2011 election in the Ottawa air, critics question whether the government will ever make good on its intentions, especially since they say Aglukkaq has already dragged her feet in making the changes.
"I wonder if we can actually trust her to move things forward," said NDP health critic Megan Leslie.
Provincial officials have said Ottawa appeared to lose its resolve last fall to move ahead on its packaging strategy.
Aglukkaq says she needed extra time to put the announcement together because she wanted to make sure the campaign took advantage of rapidly changing communications technology, and reached the broadest audience possible.
But critics say she was held back by the lobbying efforts of the tobacco industry, and only agreed reluctantly to revamp cigarette warnings after intense public pressure.
"(Thursday's) announcement is long overdue and suggests the tobacco lobby continues to have a tight grip on this government," Liberal health critic Ujjal Dosanjh said in a statement.
"Make no mistake, the minister’s announcement is damage control for a government who puts its own interests – and the interests of powerful insiders – ahead of the health and safety of Canadians."
Aglukkaq said she has not met with tobacco industry lobbyists and said they would only be asked for their input once the new regulations are ready for public release.
The tobacco industry, however, is already spoiling for a fight.
"We're disappointed with the minister's decision to abandon her commitment to tackle the nation's contraband problem and instead impose new regulation on the legal tobacco industry," said Eric Gagnon, spokesman for Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd.
"We don't believe that increasing the health warning to 75 per cent is going to create greater awareness (of) the health risks associated with tobacco."
Anti-smoking groups disagreed strongly.
"A picture says a thousand words," said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.
"The tobacco industry will not like this announcement. It's because these warnings will reduce sales. And that's precisely why these warnings deserve to be supported."
Most smokers are already well aware of the risks of smoking, Gagnon countered. Ottawa would be better off putting a stop to contraband peddling of tobacco in "baggies" to young people in their schoolyards, he added.
Anti-smoking activists fear the tobacco companies will tie up the new regulations in litigation and trade disputes. But Gagnon said it is too early to discuss strategy, since his company has not yet seen the new regulations.