TOBACCO CONTROL LEGISLATION AND RESOURCE-ALLOCATION EFFECTS

In December 1995, Health Canada published Tobacco Control: A Blueprint to Protect the Health of Canadians which outlines the Government of C anada's new strategy to reduce tobacco consumption. Bill C-71, The Tob acco Act, was subsequently introduced and received royal assent in Apr il 1997. The objective of this paper is to use input-output analysis t o examine the resource allocation effects of a reduction in tobacco co nsumption that would likely result from this legislation. We find that significant reallocation effects may occur, and the employment effect s may be more severe in the public than in the private sector.