Dalton & Dave win award from smokers' rights group

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MYCHOICE.CA

********************* "Nanny State" Golden Bib Award winners announced

June 7, 2006 - The votes have been cast, and Canada's largest smokers' rights group, mychoice.ca, is pleased to announce the recipients of its first-ever Golden Bib Awards ("The Bibbies").

These awards recognize those who best exemplify the ideals of a Nanny State.

The winners were selected by mychoice.ca members.

The nominations in each category were chosen because they demonstrated the following "nanny state" qualities:

- unfaltering confidence that they know best

- uncommon zeal in trying to save us all from ourselves

- achievement in setting new precedents that increase the ability of our betters to impose their personal wills on our private lives and choices

There were five categories: "Best Nanny Government," "Best Nanny Municipality," "Best Nanny Organization," "Best Nanny Individual" and "Best Foreign Nanny."

"The idea was to have some fun and at the same time deliver a serious message - that there is a huge difference between governments providing information on the personal choices we face and them trying to force their choices on us by removing our personal options," said the association’s president, Nancy Daigneault.

"May 31 saw the implementation of province wide bans in Ontario and Quebec, the more extreme elements of which reflect the latest efforts by the nanny state to impose its will on us to save us from ourselves," Ms. Daigneault said. "What better time to make these awards?"

The winners will be sent a Golden Bib plaque.

And the winners are:

Best Nanny Government

The Bibbie goes to the Liberal Government of Ontario, for ignoring its own economic experts along with smokers, charities, war veterans, bar owners and anyone else who will bear the brunt of its actions, and rushing through its province-wide anti-smoking ban with only token public hearings. And for also ignoring their own ministry reports which show major negative repercussions from a province-wide smoking ban - possibly up to $500 million a year in gaming revenue losses as well as more than a thousand jobs.

Runner up: The NDP Governments of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the Conservative Government of New Brunswick for continuing to pretend they know best and that their province-wide bans, have not hurt bars, charities, casinos etc, or divided communities, or left smokers seeking alternatives on First Nations Reserves or staying home in droves.

Best Nanny Individual

The Bibbie goes to Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman, for never reading an anti-smoking lobby claim or study he didn't like or hearing an anti-smoking argument he didn't agree with, and for apparently never reading any other studies at all - even his own government's economic ministry reports, or listening to the opinions of anyone who might contradict his opinions. Mr. Smitherman also gets nominated for officially extending the justification for smoking bans from protection of the general public to trying to punish smokers into quitting.

Runner up: Mr. Smitherman's Quebec counterpart, Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard, for all the same reasons as him, plus the fact that he is on the record as saying smokers have no rights because they are under the influence of a substance.

Best Nanny Municipal

The Bibbie goes to the City of Kingston, Ontario, for banning both indoor and outdoor patio smoking.

Best Nanny Organization

The Bibbie goes to the Ontario Coalition for Action on Tobacco for not being satisfied with winning a provincial law that kicks smokers out of private clubs, Legions, charity bingos, separately enclosed and ventilated DSRs everywhere, covered patios, underground garages and more. Soon after the law was passed they were vowing to get the law amended to ban smoking on patios, nine meters from any doors, in cars, private homes, and more.

Runner up: The World Health Organization for its alarming and offensive new employment policy to no longer recruit smokers. Anyone who says they smoke and would continue to do so if hired, will not be invited to an interview.

Best Foreign Nanny

The Bibbie goes to the State of California because it got the total indoor ban rolling and is trying for the second time to ban smoking in cars, on beaches and anywhere else it can think of.

Runner up: The Michigan health care company Weyco for decreeing that employees who smoke would be fired if they did not quit smoking, and then firing four workers who refused to submit to testing to see if they had been smoking on their own personal time away from the office.

Nominations for mychoice.ca’s first annual Golden Bib Awards cover everything from the truly alarming to the totally ridiculous.

To view the entire list of nominees for each category, visit www.mychoice.ca and click onto the "Golden Bib Awards" section.

Mychoice.ca offers a voice for Canada’s adult smokers and others who believe in fair laws, government accountability and personal choice.

It is funded by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council, but is a registered non-profit organization operating independently on behalf of the more than 33,000 individuals who have signed up as members.

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