Announcing Funding for Mount Royal University’s Tobacco Ressation Program

October 23, 2009

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Remarks from event, where MP Richardson announced federal funding for TobaccoFree@MRU, an anti-smoking program at Mount Royal University:

Thank you for your kind introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here with you today.

I am honoured to represent our community as your Member of Parliament, and to be here today on behalf of the Hon. Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. I’m here today to challenge Mount Royal University students and staff: get tobacco out of your lives!

Smoking is the most preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada. So, the best way to cut the risk of serious health problems is to quit smoking, and the bset way to avoid the risk altogether is to never start smoking in the first place.

Every year, more than 37,000 Canadians die prematurely from smoking. In 2002, 830 non-smokers died from being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Think forward to the jobs you want to be doing when you graduate. You will be working in offices, hospitals, schools, child-care centres and newsrooms. Now ask yourselves: Will my working life include smoking? Do I want to be one of those people standing out on the sidewalk in minus-20 degree temperatures getting their nicotine fix? Do I want to be addicted to something that could negatively impact my quality of life and shorten my life span?

If we compare Canadian statistics with the university’s enrolment statistics, we can infer that more than 3,000 Mount Royal University students are smokers. Those statistics also tell us that about half of those students will try to quit at least once a year. We want to improve your chances of making those attempts successful.

That’s why Mount Royal University has teamed up with Alberta Health Services, the Canadian Cancer Society, and Smoke-Free Calgary to strengthen the TobaccoFree@MRU stop-smoking cessation program.

This program will focus on training campus health practitioners to assess students for their readiness to quit smoking and to determine the interventions that students might require, including referral to cessation services.

The university’s Tobacco Reduction Advisory Team will continue to run peer educational and support group. The team will also continue to educate students on Nicotine Replacement Therapy and benefit coverage.

TobaccoFree@MRU supports the goals of the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy. Our Strategy aims to reduce disease and death related to tobacco use through a comprehensive, integrated, and sustained approach. Since we developed the Strategy in 2001, Canadian statistics indicate that there are 1 million fewer smokers in Canada. That’s why I am so pleased to announce today that the Government of Canada is providing close to $115,000 for the TobaccoFree@MRU program.

I’m confident that these funds can help you quit smoking because they will provide for more onsite smoking cessation interventions and programming. We are investing in you because you are the future.

Thank you.