HST concerns shop owners, MPP
By Kim Zarzour - YorkRegion.com
May 19, 2010
The HST will add 8 per cent to the cost of tobacco products starting July 1 and drive more smokers to buy cheaply priced illegal cigarettes, said Dave Bryans, President of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association. Nearly half of all tobacco sales in Ontario is controlled by organized crime groups, he added.
The association, and Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman, are calling on the province to hold the line on cigarette taxes until the contraband tobacco problem is under control.
?Minister, put HST on legal cigarettes and you are putting money in the pockets of organized crime,? Mr. Shurman, PC Critic for Economic Development and Trade, said during Question Period Tuesday. ?It kills small business and buys the guns that kill innocent people.?
HST concerns shop owners, MPP
By Kim Zarzour - YorkRegion.com
May 19, 2010
The provincial government is boosting organized crime and hurting hard-working corner store owners ? often immigrants making a living the only way they can ? by imposing its new harmonized sales tax on cigarettes, Ontario convenience store owners say.
The HST will add 8 per cent to the cost of tobacco products starting July 1 and drive more smokers to buy cheaply priced illegal cigarettes, said Dave Bryans, President of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association. Nearly half of all tobacco sales in Ontario is controlled by organized crime groups, he added.
The association, and Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman, are calling on the province to hold the line on cigarette taxes until the contraband tobacco problem is under control.
?Minister, put HST on legal cigarettes and you are putting money in the pockets of organized crime,? Mr. Shurman, PC Critic for Economic Development and Trade, said during Question Period Tuesday. ?It kills small business and buys the guns that kill innocent people.?
Nick Daliri, owner of Ocean Variety and Magazine in Thornhill, said his business depends on tobacco sales, with cigarettes accounting for 30 to 40 per cent of sales. He predicts more convenience stores will shut down as a result of the HST.
?I?m just selling two cartons a day. That?s ridiculous. I?m losing money every month,? said Mr. Daliri, who has operated his corner store for three years.
Small store owners can?t compete with big department stores, he said, and they can?t compete with illegal cigarettes costing as little as $1 a pack, compared to $8 for a government-regulated pack.
?If people don?t come in here to buy their cigarettes, we don?t have a chance to sell them lottery tickets or candy. They?re making this province a haven for criminals rather than for honest people just trying to make a living.?
An engineer who immigrated to Canada 30 years ago, he said he?s become cynical and discouraged by a government that allows magazines to freely advertise tobacco, yet comes down hard on store owners who don?t hide their cigarettes behind the counter. At the same time, contraband cigarettes, made in illegal, unregulated factories, are sold to kids out of the trunks of cars.
?All this adds to the misery of working people, working their butts off, especially newcomers who can?t get a job any other way. How can they expect them to survive? They say small business is the backbone of the country; well prove it, don?t just talk about it.?
Wendy Kadlovski, the store association chair and director of operations for Nicholby?s in Unionville, said in the past two years, Ontario has seen 2,400 convenience stores close their doors.
The HST isn?t just bad for business, Ms Kadlovski said. It?s bad for its impact on organized crime and youth anti-smoking initiatives.
?We as an organization are very diligent about selling to minors.?
Studies have shown that the prevalence of contraband tobacco is rapidly growing in Canada ? in York Region especially.
A study commissioned by the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco released in the fall showed the region had the highest incidence of youth access to illegal smokes.
Speaking in the House on Tuesday, Shurman noted even government employees are buying contraband; a recent study showed 32 per cent of the butts found outside a Department of Finance building in Ottawa were illegal.
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association delivered a 4,000-name petition to Queens Park this week calling on the McGuinty government to invoke temporary measures to prevent the diversion of sales to contraband.
Ms Kadlovski said the convenience store association is asking the government to reduce the Provincial Tobacco Tax by eight per cent to offset the the effect of the HST.