Provincial legislation announced last week will prohibit the sale of cigarettes on post-secondary campuses in Ontario as of Jan. 1.
Cigarettes are currently sold on Carleton campus at Abstentions in Residence Commons, which is run by the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA); the Unicentre store, Henry’s Convenience, which is run by the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA); and Mike’s Place, the Graduate Students’ Association-run pub.
RRRA was anticipating $3,750 in profit from tobacco sales in the second semester of this academic year, according to its budget.
CUSA planned for $53,000 of profit in tobacco sales in the 2014-2015 year, according to its budget. If cigarette sales are evenly distributed between the three semesters, CUSA will lose approximately $17,666 of profit for next semester, when the legislation will take effect.
CUSA budgeted for a total income of $60.01 from the Unicentre store for the whole 2014-15 academic year.
CUSA business manager Rod Castro said CUSA will look at historical data and do a business analysis to re-examine the budget and compensate for the loss of revenue.
“It’s impossible to know how far the residual effect is going to land,” he said.
After the sale of cigarettes on campus becomes illegal, CUSA will negotiate with cigarette suppliers to see if they will buy back any stock that isn’t sold by Jan. 1, Castro said.
“I’m confident in our managers’ ability to figure out a way around it,” CUSA president Folarin Odunayo said about the budget. “The legislation is something we’ve been aware of for a long time.”
RRRA vice-president (administration) Graham Pedregosa said they became aware of the proposed legislation last week.
“It’s very early to tell how it will affect RRRA’s budgets,” Pedregosa said, but added RRRA will look at the budget again, “as soon as possible.”
Pedregosa added RRRA has a meeting scheduled for Nov. 12 with an MPP official to see if the provincial government will ease the transition for student associations who currently profit from on-campus tobacco sales.
“We weren’t expecting this at all,” Pedregosa said, who added he was is surprised by how fast the legislation will be implemented. He said RRRA does not have a position on provincial smoking regulations.
“It would have been nice if they had consulted with student associations,” he said.
Kurt Wnendt, a third-year student who currently buys cigarettes on campus, said it won’t affect how much he smokes. It will be an inconvenience, he said, because Carleton isn’t near any off-campus locations that sell cigarettes.
“I think we’re old enough in university to decide for ourselves,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a problem to buy smokes on campus.”
Carleton is the last post-secondary school in Ottawa to allow the sale of cigarettes on campus. The University of Ottawa said it stopped selling tobacco on campus years ago, and Algonquin College said it never started.
Odunayo said he doesn’t think it’s CUSA’s place to ban anything on campus.
“You’ve got to ask yourself, is CUSA in a position to ban anything on campus?” he said. “We can certainly encourage non-smoking and have forums and educations on the hazards of smoking.”
The graduate student bar, Mike’s Place, will also be affected by the ban, although manager George Koneval said it will not have an impact on the business’s finances.
“We don’t support smoking but everyone can decide to have a cigarette or not have a cigarette. It was convenient that students could buy cigarettes at eleven or midnight. Suddenly, smokers will have to go to Bank Street,” he said.
Koneval said he was aware of the ban and Mike’s Place will likely sell off its stock before the ban is implemented.
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