Letter of support for recommendations submitted by the Canadian Cancer Society and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for Bill S-5, an act to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers’ Health Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts
February 15, 2018
Mr. Bill Casey, MP
Chair of the Standing Committee on Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Bill.Casey@parl.gc.ca
Re: Letter of support for recommendations submitted by the Canadian Cancer Society and Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for Bill S-5, an act to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers’ Health Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts
Dear Mr. Casey:
I am writing to you today on behalf of the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA). As you may know, the membership of CNA exceeds 139,000 registered nurses (RNs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) from every province and territory in Canada.
I am pleased to let you know that CNA is in full support of recommendations that have recently been submitted to the standing committee on health (HESA) from two national organizations: the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. As you know, both of these organizations appeared before HESA on February 12, 2018, to provide their recommendations on Bill S-5, an act to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers’ Health Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts.
CNA believes that the recommendations found in their respective briefs will ultimately improve the current version of the proposed piece of legislation that your committee is currently examining. For example, we are fully supportive of recommendations that will amend Bill S-5 to provide greater restrictions on vaping products (such as restricting e-cigarette marketing). These recommendations will go a long way in protecting the health of people in Canada, especially our country’s youth and young adults. Therefore, we encourage you and your colleagues to include them in your final report on Bill S-5.
If you or your staff have any questions or would like to follow-up with our staff in Ottawa, please contact David Granovsky, CNA’s lead for government relations, at 613-237-2159 or via e-mail at dgranovsky@cna-aiic.ca.
Sincerely,
Barb Shellian, RN, BN, MN
President
cc: Marie-Hélène Sauvé, Clerk of the Standing Committee on Health
The Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, PC, MP, Minister of Health
Bill Blair, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health
Marilyn Gladu, MP, Official Opposition Shadow Minister of Health
Don Davies, MP, NDP Critic for Health