Dear Finance Minister;
Last week you brought down a budget that while being good in making promises it failed to impress me at all.
Why did you not raise taxes or duties on both tobacco products and alcohol??? You are smart enough to realize that both tobacco and alcohol addiction is a very real factor in the draining of our health care systems dollars.
Not only does our economy suffer directly because of the ill health of the addicts but the spin off costs are just as astronomical.
What about the cost of lost wages from being sick because of a hangover or infection caused by poor lung function??
What about the costs to our children’s health in being exposed to second hand smoke??
What about the costs to children’s health because the parents addictions to both these diseases limits the amount of money that they spend on education, good nourishing food, proper clothing and a host of other things they are denied??
The addicts to these products should start paying their own way. This can be done by raising the taxes on alcohol and tobacco.
There is no justification in continuing to not tax these items right out of existence.
Can you name me one single positive thing that the sale of alcohol and cigarettes accomplishes?? I think not.
In my humble opinion the effects of alcohol and tobacco usage are far worse that the effects of all our other vices combined. I wonder how many Canadians would be alive today if they had not been killed by an impaired driver, or lung disease caused by smoking??
It takes guts to make a change.
Our world is changing and you can try to ignore this or you can help to change things for a better world.
Our health ministers are doing their best to try to encourage people not to smoke and I know the best way is to raise the bar and up the taxation on cigarettes. It is a proven fact that about 4% of smokers decide to quit when the price jumps due to taxes. If both the provinces and the federal government raise their taxes at the same time it would be a double whammy and a lot of people would consider quitting.
Will you help change things or are you just going to accept the status quo and do nothing??
It is by far the easiest thing to do, nothing but I urge you to take some positive action to change things.
As a former smoker I know what I am talking about. And to make matters worse I was a very heavy beer drinker. I know I paid my fair share of taxes on the way through but I fail to see any justification at all in the way that I lived. I have two grown sons now and six grandkids. It gives me a lump in my throat just to think of what I may have done to my kids, and how I may yet have to pay dearly for any health problems that they may have because of my stupidity.
My wife of almost forty years died from lung cancer in 2002 so I know firsthand the agony of seeing the one you love just vanish before your eyes. The hell of it all is, that it is preventable.
Do we really love the money the sale of these products bring into our government coffers so much that we are willing to compromise the health of our citizens??
That is exactly what you are doing. By allowing the continued sale of both cigarettes and alcohol you are compromising the heath of your fellow Canadians.
Do you think that this is fair??
I think not.
So to sum this all up, you need to speak to your colleagues and fellow members of parliament to try to reverse things as they stand now.
Our justice system is broken and needs fixing. The criminals have more rights than the victims.
Our health care system is broken and need fixing badly.
Our social welfare system is strained to the breaking point.
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.
In my humble opinion it is high time you government officials became part of the solution.
Instead of being part of the problem.
Respectfully submitted,
Barry H. Brooks 711 Rossland Road East, Suite #410
WHITBY, Ontario L1N 8Z1 Phone (905) 430-5796
e-mail Bbrooks@copdcanada.ca
