Firm accused of using illicit issue

A confidential presentation by Imperial Tobacco Canada to its parent company British American Tobacco reveals both the objectives and tactics behind the company’s decade-long campaign to ‘keep the contraband issue alive’, according to a press note issued by Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association, and the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.

The campaign to keep the issue alive was said to have been waged despite the fact that the volume of contraband cigarettes had decreased substantially during the period in question.

‘The document, provided by an anonymous whistleblower, shows how Imperial Tobacco used retailer and other business associations as front groups for their lobbying efforts aimed at preventing effective regulations and tax increases,’ the press note said.

‘The Imperial Tobacco presentation describes the public relations and lobbying activities of two seemingly independent groups – the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) and the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) – as “Our Campaigns”.

‘The document explains how these groups succeeded in providing a “credible voice for contraband tobacco”, a key strategic goal for the industry given its own lack of credibility.

‘For example, the NCACT, which was set up by the CCSA and is managed by the lobbying firm Impact Public Affairs, is seen playing a key role in distancing Imperial Tobacco even further from its anti-regulation and anti-tax public relations campaigns (“Not just ‘Big Tobacco’!”).

‘The document also shows how the industry was able to recruit credible third parties (like municipalities), purportedly to combat contraband, in order to use as political leverage to influence government policies and prevent the implementation of effective tobacco control measures.’