Canada's toughest ID check program backs Ontario MPP's bill to toughen up
tobacco laws for kids

'We Expect ID' program supports restrictions on youth purchasing, possession and use of tobacco to complement existing rules on the sale of tobacco to minors

OAKVILLE, ON, Oct 6 /CNW/ - Which of these things is not like the other? In Ontario, kids are prohibited from purchasing, possessing and using alcohol; but, they're free to obtain, possess and use tobacco.  Who came up with these rules?  Why are retailers the only line of defence between kids acquiring tobacco?

As the foremost experts in responsibly selling age restricted products, the convenience store industry's  'We Expect ID' program fully supports the new Private Members' Bill from MPP Gerry Martiniuk that would add a ban on youth purchasing, possession and use of tobacco to the existing restrictions on tobacco sales.  Convenience stores sell more age restricted products than any other retailer in Canada and the 'We Expect ID' program was created to help retailers train staff on how to correctly and responsibly sell these products - including offering them a system for mistake-free ID checks on customers.

"You don't see kids standing in public drinking beer - that's because it's against the law. But the same can't be said for cigarettes because the rules are different, and they shouldn't be," said Steve Tennant, Executive Director of 'We Expect ID'.  "Nobody knows more about the challenges of selling age restricted products than we do.  We do over 130,000 age checks a day in Ontario and have 150 million since the program launched in 2007.  A ban on the possession and use of tobacco would unquestionably be a major tool to compliment our work to help prevent young people from accessing a product they shouldn't have."

The long standing rules for youth possession and use of alcohol in Ontario state that you must be 19 to buy, possess or drink alcohol.  Underage drinking is a provincial offense and minors caught drinking alcohol face a fine of $130 in a pub or club and $75 in residences. 

"We know a youth ban on cigarettes won't completely solve the problem of youth smoking, but it will help make a big difference. A $130 fine goes a long way to help deter kids from getting their hands on alcohol, let's do the same thing with tobacco," added Tennant.  "It doesn't make sense the government and society permits kids to smoke.  And this kind of prohibition doesn't take a lot to enforce.  Ontario has already banned people from smoking in cars with kids.  It's about time someone took the logical step to make it illegal for kids to smoke."

'We Expect ID' Program

Launched in 2007, the 'We Expect ID' Program is the OCSA's tough age verification program to control the sale of age restricted products.  Now in over 7,500 stores in Ontario, the program takes a zero-tolerance approach to keeping age restricted products away from kids.  With the system, anyone attempting to purchase an age restricted product that appears under 25 must present their driver's license and have it swiped through a device that reads the encoded age information off the card's magnetic strip. 

In each and every case, store employees swipe customers' licenses through the lottery terminal to perform this verification.  The terminal reads the age information from each license and presents the person's age prominently on the terminal's display.  It helps eliminate mistakes and makes it easier for stores to dutifully keep all age restricted products from kids. 

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John Perenack
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