TOBACCO AD BAN EASED

Rock to allow sponsorship for 5 years, then ban it

OTTAWA - Tobacco company sponsorship of sports and arts will be allowed for
another five years and then be banned, Health Minister Allan Rock has decided.

Rock is to announce today that tobacco sponsorship can continue unrestricted
for the next two years, then it will be restricted for three years before
being banned.

The health minister decided last week against establishing a federal fund of
up to $100 million to assist the arts and sports groups in adapting to the
loss of $60 million a year in tobacco sponsorships.

Instead, he will give sports and cultural groups more time to find other
sponsors.

Tobacco money funds a wide variety of events, including Grand Prix car
races, professional women's golf tournaments, jazz festivals and fireworks
displays.

Amendments to be introduced in the House of Commons today would:

* Permit tobacco company sponsorship advertising of sports and cultural
events to continue unfettered for two years both on and off site. The
Tobacco Act would have restricted all advertising to the bottom tenth of any
ad space beginning on Oct. 1.

* Restrict off-site sponsorship advertising after two years, while allowing
on-site advertising to continue unrestricted. Off-site advertising would be
restricted to direct mailings to adults, to publications with an adult
readership and to bars and taverns where minors are not permitted. In the
final three years, the off-site advertising will also be restricted to the
bottom one-tenth of any ads.

* At the end of five years, tobacco company sponsorships will be banned.
This is tougher than the present act, which only restricted sponsorship
advertising to the bottom tenth of advertising space.

The amendments mark the end of a tortured process.

Former health minister David Dingwall and more recently Rock have been
battered from two sides - condemned by health groups for caving in to the
powerful tobacco companies while simultaneously assailed by arts and culture
groups which claimed they couldn't survive without their biggest sponsors.

Rock's solution is to go easier for the first five years than Dingwall's
original legislation - passed just before last spring's election - and then
to get tougher.

He'll also introduce today new regulations requiring the tobacco companies
to report yearly on exactly what toxins they are using in their products,
and what they spend to promote smoking.

The health minister, who has been widely accused of bungling the still
contentious issue of federal compensation for hepatitis C victims, is hoping
his tobacco amendments will help restore his credibility.

Rock was fettered in what he could do by a couple of considerations.

He was bound by a pre-election promise. Last April, Dingwall came under
pressure from the Prime Minister's Office because of fears the Liberals
would lose certain Quebec ridings where tobacco-sponsored events are big
tourism draws.

As a result, he sent the Grand Prix organizations a written promise they'd
get some form of exemption.

But the Supreme Court probably would have struck down any sponsorship
restrictions that applied only to car racing, and not to jazz festivals or
other arts events as well.

The health minister hopes now that the promise of an eventual ban will help
soften the criticisms of anti-smoking groups.

Health advocates can be expected to react angrily to the five-year phase-in
of a form of advertising they say is most effective in getting kids hooked.

Rock will also make other moves intended to mute the critics.

These include retabling amendments restricting how cigarettes may be
displayed in stores, and detailing the requirements for vendors as to age
identification.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett