dbd33

Today I walked into a shop in Ontario to buy some skins. There used to be rows of cigarettes behind the counter but now there are just metal cases. "Say what happened?, Crime wave in Guelph?" I asked. Apparently not, it's now no longer lawful to display cigarettes for sale in a country where at least two provinces (Ontario and BC) produce marijuana as their primary cash crop.

I know Canadians love legislation and they love bureaucracy ( I delighted in being fined for "football in public park" and "allowing children to paddle without permit"), they feel safe when tightly regulated, but I suggest that this compulsion to banning and hiding diminishes the quality of life. Inevitably, the puritan view of smoking will move on to alcohol and we'll be drinking from cups so as to avoid showing beer.

I suggest that the Canadians are a dreary lot and that people who have a spark of life in them might do well to look elsewhere.

Novocastrian

I know, it's truly pathetic isn't it? I presume they'll soon be using the blank space on the now-hidden "power walls" to advertise Lotto 649 or some crackpot financial advisor.

dbd33

Yes. I'm afraid I think Canadians to be pretty much a bunch of wankers.

Novocastrian

You and me excepted, I hope? Unless you mean it literally.

dbd33

Pardon me, I meant the unhyphenated-Canadians.

bramwith

In my city it's now an offence to smoke within 5 metres of a public entrance or air intake or something, I don't know, can't keep up with all the new rules.

It is, however perfectly acceptable to leave your noisy, polluting non emission controlled truck engine idling outside the hairdressers for 30 minutes, something I witnessed last month.

Crazy.

Steve_P

But according to you there is no such animal.

bazzz

I suspect this is a ploy. By making perfectly innocuous things illegal, average people can get the thrill of a breaking the law without doing anything actually bad. So it stops people blowing up an embassy or raping your dog just to get that criminal buzz.

Lorna_D

our Esso has all the tobaco products behind a curtain, the bar sells them from a machine but as I don't smoke it never worried me.

I just checked on Sask law and sellors have to hide tobacco products anywhere that a minor would be shopping and also to the outside of the store

dingbat

Same daft rules of covering up tobacco products where I am. Take comfort from the fact that you can buy a crack pipe or bong from a selection on display at the same gas station, however.

doodlebum

The UK is not far behind......

http://www.talkingretail.com/news/97...ves-clos.ehtml

flashman

It's a good way of keeping a**holes out of the country!

Cyan

I think it's a great idea.

Anything that acts as a disincentive or impediment to non-smokers converting to walking chimneys and costing the Canadian health tax payer in the long run, has to be applauded.

If that is puritanism, then I'm all for it.

Novocastrian

<Points and hisses like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers>

bazzz

I presume you'd also favour a ban hiding products such as booze, ice cream and cheese. After all, they're all bad for you. I look forward to the day when we can only see salad and a bit of fish on display in our shops.