ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: June 21, 1995
File No.: CC20/95
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of Environmental Health
SUBJECT: Tobacco Sales to Minors - Enforcement Funding
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT Council approve the receipt of Ministry of Health
funding in the amount of $110,000 for a 30 month
monitoring and enforcement program related to Federal and
Provincial Tobacco Sales Legislation.
B. THAT Council approve the establishment of the following
temporary full-time positions with costs 100% recoverable
from the Ministry of Health at a total cost of $110,000.
1.0 Environmental Health Officer
(9 months, term ending December 31, 1995)
1.0 Environmental Health Officer
(19 months, term ending October 31, 1996)
The positions are subject to job evaluation by the
General Manager of Human Resources.
MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager, Community Services notes that the
recommendations of the Director of Environmental Health are
consistent with Council objectives to reduce the availability of
tobacco products to youth. He therefore supports the acceptance
of the federal funding which flows through the Ministry of
Health without the normal allocation for administrative overhead.
The General Manager, Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A
and B.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council has, on a number of occasions, expressed concern about
the sales of tobacco to minors and has requested staff to explore
mechanisms to deal with retailers who insist on defying Tobacco
Sales to Minors legislation.
PURPOSE
This report is written to advise Council of the receipt of
$110,000 of federal funding, routed through the provincial
Ministry of Health to carry out a 30 month monitoring and
enforcement program related to Tobacco Sales, specifically
tobacco sales to minors.
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BACKGROUND
Senior governments at both the provincial and federal levels have
identified the implementation of Tobacco Reduction Strategies as
a priority public health policy issue. While these programs have
a major public education/health promotion emphasis, they also
incorporate regulatory elements aimed at reducing the
availability of tobacco products to youth (minors). Studies in
the U.S. have shown that reduced availability through regulatory
restrictions on retail sales (backed up by compliance checks and
active enforcement) translates to reduced numbers of young people
commencing to smoke.
With the adoption of provincial Tobacco Sales legislation in June
of 1994, the Ministry of Health provided funding in the amount of
$31,000 to the Vancouver Health Department to carry out
monitoring and enforcement in the City of Vancouver.
DISCUSSION
Environmental Health staff have been providing monitoring and
enforcement of the provincial tobacco sales to minors legislation
since last September, utilizing the one-time funding from the
Ministry of Health. This has been accomplished by hiring a
temporary environmental health officer, recently supplemented by
the addition of a second temporary environmental health officer.
Each of these EHOs has been designated as enforcement officers
under the federal and provincial legislation. Under provincial
legislation an offence is dealt with through progressive
enforcement. This entails issuing a warning to the retailer
followed by the issuance of a ticket under the Offences Act.
Provincial legislation is pending which will allow for the
revocation of a retailers right to sell tobacco after the
issuance of two tickets, with progressively longer suspensions if
infractions continue. Vancouver EHOs were the first to issue a
ticket under these provisions.
In an effort to maximize efficiency and reduce duplication of
services, the Director of Environmental Health participated in
discussions with the provincial Executive Director of Health
Protection and Safety Programs and the Federal Regional Director
of the Health Protection Branch, Health Canada, with a view to
negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This MOU would
see provincial and municipal EHOs carrying out monitoring and
administrative enforcement of the Federal Tobacco Sales and
Tobacco Sales to Young Persons legislation with Health Canada
providing funding to carry out a designated number of inspections
and complaint responses.
An MOU was signed between the Ministry of Health and Health
Canada to provide for a 30 month program (January, 1995 to June
30, 1997)of monitoring and administrative enforcement of the
federal legislation. Since this funding also gets EHOs in the
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door of retail establishments, it allows for an efficient system
of monitoring for compliance with provincial legislation.
Under the MOU the Vancouver share of targeted visits is nearly
4000 or somewhere between 2 and 3 visits per retail premises over
the 30 months. Unfortunately an accurate database of
establishments selling tobacco does not exist so one has to be
built based on our inspections. In order to complete the number
of designated visits, the Director of Environmental Health is
recommending that two temporary positions be created, one with a
term to expire December 31, 1995 and the other with a term
expiring October 31, 1996. The remaining 2 months in 1996 and
six months in 1997 will predominantly involve responding to
consumer/parental complaints and will be accomplished utilizing
existing environmental health staff.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
This proposal will involve establishing the following temporary
full-time positions:
1.0 FTE Environmental Health Officer (9 months)
1.0 FTE Environmental Health Officer (19 months)
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
No environmental implications are anticipated.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS/IMPACTS ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Successful tobacco reduction strategies should result in fewer of
our young people taking up tobacco use with its resultant
negative impacts on individual and community health.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The City has already received a cheque in the amount of $110,000
for the full amount of the 30 month, federally underwritten,
program. No additional City funds are required to complete the
program. The Medical Health Officer recommends waiving an
administration fee.
The total costs of the proposed staffing is estimated to be:
EHO x 28 months = (@ Step 1, P.G. 24) $ 91,400
Fringe Benefits $ 15,500
Auto Allowance $ 3,100
TOTAL COSTS (Excluding Admin. Overhead) $110,000
CONCLUSION
The provision of $110,000 in federal money to carry out
monitoring and enforcement activities related to tobacco sales
allows the Health Department to achieve tobacco use reduction
objectives that are consistent with public policy at the City,
provincial and federal levels. The recommendations contained in
this report should be supported.
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