Letter to all candidates in my riding

[mydnight]

Dear <candidate>

I am writing to ask what your party's stance is on Bill C-36, which proposes to ban electronic cigarette sales within Canada.

Electronic cigarettes are a stop-smoking aid which has been proven more successful by several orders of magnitude than other nicotine replacement therapies such as the patch, gum, lozenges, or inhalers. As I'm sure you are aware, cigarettes are both psychologically and physically addictive, and no other product on the market takes the psychological factors surrounding tobacco use into account. I personally have been smoking for the last 10 years, and have tried multiple methods to reduce or completely stop my tobacco use, with no success. The only results I have achieved are extreme irritability and insomnia, and smoking reduction or cessation has lasted at most 3-4 days. By contrast, within two days of starting e-cigarette use, I was able to curtail my use of tobacco products from roughly a pack of full-strength full flavor king-sized cigarettes a day, to roughly two "lite" regular cigarettes a day, despite an increased stress load at work (previously a sure sign my tobacco use would increase). Within two week of starting e-cigarette use, I had completely quit smoking tobacco products. Although this result may seem purely subjective, it has been validated through the use of multiple studies, such as a recent study made by the Boston University School of Public Health, entitled "Electronic Cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy for tobacco control", which concludes “The evidence reviewed in this article suggests that electronic cigarettes are a much safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes. They are likely to improve upon the efficacy of traditional pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation.”.

Another factor which should be taken into account is the long-term harm reduction substituting electronic cigarettes for tabacco products may have. Tobacco cigarettes contain over 3,000 different chemicals, many of which, such as tar and ammonia, have been linked to cancer, emphasema, and other respiratory problems. By contrast, electronic cigarettes produce no smoke, and use a liquid which contains only propalyne glycol or vegtable glycerine as a base (both of which have been approved by Health Canada for inhalation in a medical context), flavoring, and nicotine in concentrations far below that found in tobacco smoke. Electronic cigarettes also eliminate the health problems associated with second hand smoke, as the odorless exhaled vapor disipates quickly and doesn't cling to clothing and fabric.

Finally, Health Canada's justification for banning the import and sale of electronic cigarette products (that nicotine is a schedule F drug in Canada, and that e-cigarettes need to be regulated as a drug delivery system) fail to take into account the specific exemption in Schedule F of the Food and Drug Regulations for nicotine "...(d) in a form to be administered orally by means of an inhalation device delivering 4 mg or less of nicotine per dosage unit."

I believe that Health Canada, in pushing for a ban of electronic cigarettes without performing proper studies, and for instructing the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to seize imported electronic cigarette products (even if they contain no nicotine, and as such are not covered by the proposed legislation in any way), is grossly negligent and has seriously overstepped its boundaries.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Voter,
XXXXXX XXXXXX

I'll post any responses to this that I get; however, I'm not really expecting anything as this is a "safe" riding (the same party has won here for at least the last 12 years, with more than twice the votes of anybody else.

 

[IanK1968]

You will get something like this if indeed you get something.

"Dear Real Name,

On behalf of your MP , I would like to thank you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. your MP always appreciates receiving mail on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Oh they take no stance on e-cigs.

 

[AlbertaClipper]

Good job! Thanks for putting it up.

 

[mydnight]

You will get something like this if indeed you get something.

"Dear Real Name,

On behalf of your MP , I would like to thank you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. your MP always appreciates receiving mail on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Oh they take no stance on e-cigs

Like I said, I'm fully expecting to get no response; however, writing to the candidates is something I can do, and if enough people do it then whoever actually answers the emails might sit up and say "Hmmm... people actually DO care about this, time to actually pass it up a level". In addition, when it comes to politics, even futile action is better than just sitting around and doing nothing, if only for the smug sense of self satisfaction and "right to ***ch" it gives people (Sort of akin to "If you didn't vote, don't complain")

 

[IanK1968]

This is why I am writing my MP, MPP, PM, and health minister 1 email a week, every week. Takes 2 minutes to just forward my existing emails. Maybe they will get sick of us and legalize e-cigs lol.

 

[cactusgirl]

Since bill c-36 has already been passed (December 17, 2010) and comes into effect on June 20th, 2011, I am wondering if it is possible to find out who in parliament voted in favour of the bill....so that we, the public, may hold them accountable. Does anyone know if that information falls under the freedom of information act?

 

[mydnight]

It should be available publicly. While I was looking for it, I did come across something veeery interesting related to getting this bill struck down, though: Bill C-36 | NHPPA.org

Also (Sorry for the overly political phrasing, but it's what I could find):

Every conservative voted for Bill C-36 which removed all our sovereignty and constitutional rights. Harper prorogued government over C-6, stacked the deck with all Conservative Senators, and rammed C-36 (which is a morphed C-6 on steroids) through parliament when it resumed. His Senators told Constitutional lawyer Shawn Buckley to get off his “hobby horse” when thousands of letters were read at the Senate committee, hearing pleading with Harper to allow Shawn to give testimony. The “Fuhrer”, Mr.Harper would not allow that. I will never forget the fiasco at those senate committee hearings as I was listening. Some of the hearings where censored and the sound was shut off so Canadians could not hear what the screaming matches were about. I wish I could have wiped those condescending smiles off the pompous and arrogant Conservative Senators, as they humiliated the liberal Senators who were trying to make amendments to Bill C-36.

 

[AllYourBase]

I never got a reply from my MP when I sent a letter a month ago, so I have decided to spam him with copies the letter from a couple dozen different email addresses. We will not be ignored.

 

[IanK1968]

I never got a reply from my MP when I sent a letter a month ago, so I have decided to spam him with copies the letter from a couple dozen different email addresses. We will not be ignored.

Iam doing the samething

 

[mydnight]

Reply from the Liberal candidate's office:

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX:

On behalf of Ralph Goodale, I would like to thank you for your comments regarding Bill C-36. I have advised Mr. Goodale of your concerns and forwarded your comments to the party for a response.

Sean McEachern
Campaign Manager
Ralph Goodale Campaign