Police Willingly Ignore Illicit Cigarette Sales

Source from:  news.therecord.com December 05, 2007  12/07/2007

THE RECORD Ontario's top cop, Julian Fantino, got his job only half-right at a violent protest in Caledonia this past weekend. Which means the Ontario Provincial Police commissioner got things half-wrong -- and big time. There he was, talking tough, talking blunt and promising to crack down on a protester he felt had gone too far in opposing the alleged illegal sale of cigarettes by natives. But when it came to subject of the protest itself -- a native tobacco trade that is apparently breaking the law by depriving governments of millions of dollars in taxes -- Fantino strangely enough didn't say boo. Such a selective approach to the enforcement of the law is disturbing and unbecoming for an officer of his rank and reputation. In his defence, Fantino seems most concerned with keeping the peace in Caledonia, which has for nearly two years been rocked by a native land dispute and protests that have pitted aboriginals against non-aboriginals and on more than one occasion turned violent. The commissioner has clearly lost patience with Gary McHale, a Richmond Hill resident who has organized a number of protests against the native occupation of a Caledonia housing development and who returned to the town on the weekend. Fantino is correct that the right to free speech entitles no one to provoke confrontations or incite violence. While it's unclear what McHale did and while charges do not seem to have been laid against him after the weekend protest, the OPP commissioner is serving the public interest in trying to keep the tensions simmering in Caledonia from boiling over. That's upholding the law. But there are other laws relating to the taxation of cigarettes that should also be defended. At least, the people's democratically elected representatives who passed those laws as well as those Canadians who pay their fair share of taxes probably think so. The problem is, the illegal trade in cigarettes appears to be growing even as authorities often seem willing to turn a blind eye to it. A study released last month found that 37 per cent of Ontario smokers avoided paying hefty tobacco taxes by buying their smokes from aboriginal reserves. The study, conducted between January 2005 and June 2006 for the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, estimated that the practice cost Ontario $72.3 million and the federal government nearly $50 million over the 18-month period. Meanwhile, a coalition of nine health and anti-smoking groups, including the Canadian Cancer Society, has called on the federal government to do something about the illicit sale of cigarettes and raises concerns about what is going on at a number of reserves in Ontario, including Tyendinaga near Brantford and Six Nations, near Caledonia. These daily, in fact hourly violations of the law deprive governments of legitimate revenue and should be of interest to Fantino and other law enforcement leaders. Rather than simply dismiss -- or attempt to suppress -- a messenger that he finds objectionable, Fantino should consider the message. And while he's at it, perhaps the commissioner could explain to the people of Ontario why some laws are more worthy of enforcement than others. Enditem