At 19:46 16-11-98 -0500, Robert A. Alexander wrote:
>Jeez - I just got contacted by one of our Canadian Northern Tribesmen
>and was told that Canadians have to pay about $7.00/pack for smokes!!!
>Apparently, in Canada, they come 25 smokes/pack.  That's $0.28/smoke!!!
>
I believe that price is accurate in some parts of the country.  The price
varies from Province to Province and store to store.  The taxes on
cigarettes tend to be lowest in the central Provinces of Quebec and
Ontario.  These Provinces have a very sizeable population near the border.
As prices crept up the smuggling got out of hand.  The governments lowered
the taxes to reduce smuggling.      Many Provinces have less of a smuggling
problem so they haven't reduced their taxes.  The price per carton in
Ontario went from $41 to $23.  The unfortunate part is that youth are very
price sensitive and youth smoking statistics have risen dramatically since
the price drop.

Kelly Bauman
Delta, BC
'91 Westy