Editor:
Re: It’s not just smoker who could use a little help, Aug. 11.
When I read the headline, my thought was that this was going to be a positive article.
Sadly, it turned out to be another typical Canadian whining about why should someone get something I’m not getting when I deserve it more.
Columnist Katie Bartel should do a little research. Tobacco products are taxed 800 times their retail value, and the taxes far exceed estimates of health-related costs plus the limited-time program the B.C. government offers to help smokers quit the habit.
The extra millions left over are, I presume, being used somewhere else in the health-care system.
If her being a vocal advocate of non-smoking means that all she does is loudly annoy and embarrass people who do smoke, then she should be more constructive. It’s not something to be proud of.
Katie’s anger should focus on the B.C. government’s appalling record of waste and mismanagement, some of which is exposed by the media.
This is the source of the problem that takes away from our health care, not hapless individuals who offend her ideology of the moment.
J. Edwards, Surrey
