Canada's title of 'World Leader in Tobacco Control' is in the toilet....
... and Barbara McDougall's bloody hand is on the flush handle!
Canadian PM can either stand by and do nothing OR he can throw us some life-jackets! So far, he's doing a great job of the former.
For the last 5 weeks, an ongoing drama has been unfolding around the world, with a focus on Africa...specifically, Senegal.
A 3-day meeting is scheduled to take place in the West African nation's capital, Dakar, starting on April 20, 2010. The two main participants:
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), an international aid organization which describes itself, at www.idrc.ca , as "...a Canadian Crown corporation that works in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build HEALTHIER (emphasis ours), more equitable, and more prosperous societies"; and
The African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), a network of 40 anti-tobacco groups from 26 African nations.
Trips were being planned, flight tickets were purchased, hotel reservations were made; anti-tobacco activists from all over Africa and elsewhere were looking forward to fruitful, productive meetings, as well as a chance to 'see the sights' in and around Dakar.
Everything was fine, until a bombshell was revealed: On March 5, it was discovered that the Chairman of the Board of the IDRC is...wait for it, A TOBACCO EXECUTIVE!