The "Power Wall" Smoking Ban Has Failed

On Friday night, I took a quick trip to my local convenience store to buy the winning ticket for this week's Lotto Max draw. I think they gave me the wrong ticket, as it turns out, they sold mine to someone in Owen Sound. Oh well... maybe next time. While I was waiting in line I looked up at that blank wall behind the cashier, for behind that wall I knew were cigarettes. Now, I don't smoke and I never have but I think everyone knows what is behind there. They are called "Power Walls" and they are illegal in Ontario.

In may of 2008, the province of Ontario along with many other provinces banned the display of cigarettes in convenience stores. I'm going to show you a picture here, something as rare as a sighing of the Yeti, something which hasn't been seen in almost 6.5 years.. .something which is illegal:

 

There... I did it, let's see if I can write the rest of this article without being jailed.

So, as I'm standing there in line, I got to thinking... I wonder if the power wall ban has been effective in reducing smoking? If you are a regular reader of this blog or a listener to my podcast, you'll know what my immediate suspicions are... not at all... and I WAS RIGHT! A report out last year shows no change in the smoking trend of Ontarians.

The report was produced by the Propel Centre For Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo and appeared on a number of websites. I found it at the website of the Manitoba Tobacco Reduction Alliance (If you'd like to read the whole report, click HERE.). In the report, appeared the following chart:

 

As you can see, the number of daily smokers has remained pretty steady, even after the power wall ban came into effect in 2008. Here is that chart in a different form:

For some reason there was a big up trend in 2012, I didn't look deep enough in the report to see if there might be a reason for this. Now, it appears that "Smoking Prevalence" (which basically includes occasional smokers as well) is down. However, the trend was going down even before convenience stores were forced to cover up:

Of course, I'm sure some will claim some sort of victory with this final stat claiming that numbers are down since 2008. Government jumps in front of a parade, then pretends to be leading the parade.

So in conclusion... what has happened? Lots of money was spent putting this plan in place and there has been no impact or reduction in smoking levels. The "out of sight, out of mind" mentality clearly has not worked here in Ontario. Let's let retailers again be allowed to display the products they have for sale.

Libertarianism 101

This week's podcast episode was titled "Libertarianism 101". I wanted to clarify some basic libertarian positions that I passively make reference to that may confuse some people. We covered 4 areas... Click HERE to listen to the full 30 minute episode.

Here is a summary:

Government Regulation

Typical Thought: We need government regulation to clamp down on big business. Without government regulation, the consumers will be abused, prices will be sky high and we'd be drinking orange juice laced with bleach.

If you really think about it, government regulations are kind of redundant. In a free and open marketplace, Businesses will take it among themselves to make sure products are safe and offered at a competitive price. Otherwise, they'd be out of business.

What about drugs? Many think that the FDA and Health Canada need to keep unproven drugs off the market. But no one thinks of it the other way. What about people who die while waiting for drugs to be approved? There is tremendous evidence to suggest government has killed more people withholding drugs from the market than it ever has releasing a drug too early.

Conclusion: Government regulation often has the opposite effect to what was originally intended. And any well meaning company would take it among themselves to make sure standards are met. Otherwise... you'd be out of business.

Monopoly

Typical Thought: We need government regulation to oversee big business... otherwise Wal-Mart would run everything.

We hear about monopolies all the time but in reality, it have never occurred in the history of north America. In fact, the only REAL monopolies occur with government ie. Alcohol sales, Healthcare, Heating and Hydro. All competition is outlawed in these areas... THAT is a true monopoly.

Conclusion: The word "Monopoly" is over used, and the only REAL monopolies in society occur within government.

 Capitalism

Typical Thought: Capitalism is bad. Only government oversight can prevent big business from abusing their power.

People THINK we live in a capitalist country... but we don't. The fact is, most government policy favours big business over little business. Business and government work very closely together. All you have to do is look at the biggest donors to the main political parties to know what's really going on.

Conclusion: We don't actually live in a country that practices Capitalism. What we THINK is capitalism, is actually crony capitalism brought on by bad government policy.

Government Spending

Typical Thought: Government is essential to keep the economy moving, invest in our future and create jobs to ensure the economy stays strong.

Because government doesn't have any of it's own money. By default, every dollar that government spends, is a dollar NOT spent some place else. Some people disagree with this claiming that the "Multiplier Effect" has a positive effect on the economy. However, it is debatable whether or not the multiplier effect actually exists.

Conclusion: Government doesn't actually create jobs. The best it can do is move a job from one location to another.

Ewwww, Look At What School Kids Are Eating For Lunch

It's currently one of the hottest trends on twitter. The #ThanksMichelleObama hashtag chronicles some of the interesting and at times, disgusting lunches kids are getting in their school cafeteria's.

It's part of the USDA's (US Department of Agriculture) new healthy eating guidelines headed by the first lady who has made it her mission to tackle obesity in children.

A USDA spokesperson told buzzfeed the students tweets"do not fully reflect the full range of choices students are provided."

Alas, here are some of our favourites:

This is supposed to be a grill cheese sandwich:

Yummy school lunch grilled cheese #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/zliTnsPSMS
— lakota™ (@lakotatbh) November 24, 2014

This is just wrong:

"@HouseCracka: This should be a crime. Its a school lunch! #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/BXw4VidvgP" 😂😂😂😂
— Ethel's Grandson (@Poppa_Diop) November 24, 2014

This cheese has mold on it:

Moldy food #thanksmichelleobama pic.twitter.com/QcDMO8zb6B
— Genevieve Galligan (@genniegalligan) November 24, 2014

I have no idea what this is supposed to be:

Students post gross school lunch pictures using #ThanksMichelleObama hashtag http://t.co/g5LZQTGEdX pic.twitter.com/D26AoIEOJs
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) November 24, 2014

Sadly, This one looks to be the most appetizing so far:

This was lunch today at my sons grade school. Shoppy Joe, green beans, jello w/3 oranges & milk #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/ZH5ImNPo3U
— Lori Ann Dicks-Head (@Oldsmobilelady) September 17, 2014

Heard of "where's the beef"? This one has me asking, "Where's the tuna"? I had to look twice before I saw it:

#ThanksMichelleObama for this mystery meat in school lunches #MysteryTunaTuesday @PhatMatt28 @jared_raley_ pic.twitter.com/uk9jemw8ry
— ⚾KyleGrabill⚾ (@KG_2) April 8, 2014

And finally, can someone tell me what this is please?

my school lunch today #ThanksMichelleObama pic.twitter.com/2jeYlJF0wu
— josh russell (@josh_emerson) November 21, 2014

Red Light Cameras... Raising a Red Flag

Let me put this out there... I don't like red light cameras. In fact, I doubt there are many who do. Well there is one group who does, local governments who love the revenue they generate.

I have many reasons for my opposition to these cameras. Mainly, I have a problem with a computer convicting me. If I get an actual ticket written by an actual police officer, I can challenge it in court. If the police officer doesn't show up (which half the time they don't) the charge and fine get thrown out. If I challenge a red light camera... who represents the camera? The government doesn't trust me when I say I'm innocent but YOU want ME to trust that your camera is calibrated correctly?

To my delight, there was a report on ABC World News last night proving my point. As it turns out, some traffic cameras in Baltimore are not set properly. There are reports that people going 10 miles under the speed limit are getting tickets for going 10 miles OVER. And in one case, a car got photographed sitting properly at a red light not moving!

Then there is the issue of whether or not local governments are intentionally rigging the system to catch more people. In a some US cities, local governments have been found guilty of speeding up the light cycle. In other words, the time it takes a signal to go from Green to Yellow to Red and back to Green again has been sped up slightly. Thus, clouding drivers judgement as to how much time they have to safely make it through a changing intersection.

The argument when putting in these cameras is that they reduce collisions. Although head on and T-Bone collisions may be down, the evidence has clearly shown that the number of overall collisions are up. Why? In fear of getting photographed, people slam on the breaks resulting in being hit from behind. This is exactly what happened to me a couple weeks ago. No real damage to either of our vehicles. The icy, slippery conditions certainly contributed to the incident, but had it not been a red light camera, I wouldn't have second guessed my decision to safely continue through the intersection. If the original purpose for these cameras is not being met,then they must go. Otherwise, it's simply a tax grab.