Tory Anti-Tobacco Law Proves Useless

I wrote surprisingly alot about Bill C-32, which banned the sale of flavoured tobacco products targeted at children. Cigarillos, basically.  It turns out to be a fairly meaningless stab at populism:

Bill C-32 requires that cigarillos less than 1.4 grams cannot be flavoured or sold in packages of less than 20 units. Since the law doesn't affect cigars more than 1.4 grams, tobacco companies quickly took advantage of the loophole and put cigars weighing just over the required minimum weight on the market.

Oddly enough, with all the to-ing a fro-ing over C-32, nobody appears to have thought of this loophole.

Because Its The Most Pressing Issue Facing Canadians Today...

The Conservatives have proposed new regulations that would set a minimum package size for cigarillos [miniature cigars] to make them less affordable for children.

Not that I even disagree with this kind of stuff, but its beyond even "small bore" in its scope. I hope they didn't fly anywhere to announce this, because that would be a waste of fuel.

Wells says Harper was in Welland, which I assume is someplace that's not Toronto.

Update: Apparently, this announcement also touched on banning hookah pipe tobacco. Stephen Harper...leading us into the 21st century!