‘Shocked and confused’ by new tobacco rules

OTTAWA — Imperial Tobacco said Health Canada’s proposed plain packaging regulations for cigarettes are confusing and warns it may have to go to court if changes aren’t made.

Eric Gagnon, head of corporate and regulatory affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, said his organization is “shocked and confused” by the proposed regulations.

“There’s a number of provisions that are basically impossible to comply with,” Gagnon said Monday.

Health Canada published its draft regulations last week and opened a 75-day consultation period for people to provide written submissions on its proposed changes to cigarette packages, which aim to make them drab and unappealing to youth. The proposed measures would also restrict how brand names are displayed and would require all tobacco packages to be the same colour.

“We still cannot understand how this government can justify legalizing marijuana, while imposing such extreme measures on tobacco products. We feel that the discrepancy is really astonishing,” said Gagnon.

One of the regulations Gagnon is taking issue with is a proposal to axe flip-top packaging and return to old-school “slide-and-shell” packs — a change that he said would take at least two years to implement.

Consultations will continue until Sept. 6.