Commuter rail will be serviced by our VIA Rail members in L. 100 and various L. 4000 locals. The locomotives are built by our L. 27 members at GM's London Diesel plant. The cars are built by our L. 1075 members at Bombardier in Thunder Bay. The use of Canadian made rolling stock is a result of the position taken by Silvia Simpson, our CAW National Representative who is a member of the Board of Directors of B.C. Transit who insisted it be made in Canada. This letter is to encourage you to move quickly to fill that void with a strong new regulatory framework for tobacco control.
Tobacco remains the primary cause of disease and death in Canada.
Tobacco products are the only consumer good which kill when used exactly as intended. And yet tobacco remains virtually the only dangerous product whose manufacture and sale remains entirely unregulated. Clearly, the task before your government is to bring tobacco under an effective regulatory framework, such as the Hazardous Products Act or another equally effective law. This could protect public health by reducing the attractiveness of tobacco products to youth through restrictions on promotion and packaging, and by other measurers which limit the access of the cigarette industry to the youth market. The enormous costs of tobacco use to our families and our economies should propel a legislative response to the top of your parliamentary agenda.