Once again, the nanny state delivers us from evil

Here's one for the True Facts Department, as reported this weekend by AP via NPR. NPR is to the Paranoid States of America as the CBC is to Canada, except that they don't get funded directly by a leftist government. But their political stance is just the same as if they'd been paid. They sure do love Emperor Trudeau and all  his works, including this latest bit of statist nonsense.

Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed on every cigarette. 

The move builds on Canada's mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products' packaging, a policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago. 

"We need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent we worry that they may have lost their impact as well," Minister of Mental Health and Addictions [Seriously. That's her title. Ed.] Carolyn Bennett said at a news conference Friday.

"Adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package."

A consultation period for the proposed change is set to begin Saturday, and the government anticipates the changes coming into force in the latter half of 2023. While the exact messaging printed on cigarettes could change, Bennett said the current proposal is: "Poison in every puff." 

Bennett also revealed expanded warnings for cigarette packages that include a longer list of smoking's health effects, including stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease. Canada has required the photo warnings since the turn of the millennium, but the images haven't been updated in a decade. 

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hopes the warnings printed directly on cigarettes become popular internationally, just like the package warnings did. "This is going to set a world precedent," Cunningham said, adding no other country has implemented such regulations. He's hopeful that the warning will make a real difference. "It's a warning that you simply cannot ignore," Cunningham said. "It's going to reach every smoker, with every puff."

Smoking rates have been steadily falling over the years. The latest data from Statistics Canada, released last month, shows 10% of Canadians reported smoking regularly. The government is seeking to cut that rate in half by 2035. StatCan noted that roughly 11% Canadians 20 and older reported being current smokers, compared to just 4% of people aged 15 to 19.

This is a true story, not something made up by the Babylon Bee. Carolyn Bennett is a medical doctor by training, but apparently doesn't practice her profession very much, having given it up for politics in 1995. Such is her charisma and confidence that she has been shuffled through three (and counting) cabinet posts in Liberal governments, including Minister of State for Public Health, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, and now Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Walt notes that Ms Bennett's annoouncement was made while Mr Socks was in California, engaging in acts of mutual admiration with Gov. Gavin Newsom. They agreed, inter alia, to work together to stop wildfires, although exactly how they would do so wasn't made clear. If Canucks were wondering where Mr Socks gets his nutbar ideas, now they know.