By Barrie McKenna
Parliamentary Bureau
With files from reporters Karen Unland in Montreal and Laura Eggertson inOttawa.

Health Minister David Dingwall is delaying the sponsorship restrictions inhis anti-smoking bill by a year or more in a move that shelves thecontroversial measure until after the next election but has outraged artsand sports groups.

Mr. Dingwall tabled a batch of amendments to Bill C-71 yesterday, includinga clause that would put off the sponsorship restrictions on tobaccocompanies until a full year after the legislation receives royal assent.

The decision to proceed with the bill in spite of a fierce campaign to waterdown the sponsorship restrictions is a victory for health over money, hesaid.

"This is not a cultural bill, this is not a sports bill. It's a healthbill," Mr. Dingwall said after a speech to the National Press Club. "And asmuch as [the tobacco industry] has tried, the thousands of dollars thatthey've spent on advertising to suggest it is something else, it is a healthissue."

Organizers of events repeated warnings yesterday that the bill will triggerthe cancellation of several events when the sponsorship rules come intoforce, including Montreal's Formula One Grand Prix auto race, IndyCar racesin Toronto and Vancouver and various fireworks displays.

But Mr. Dingwall said tobacco companies will have to take fullresponsibility for the demise of any events.

"We are not banning sponsorships. We are restricting them," he toldreporters later. "It will be their decision and their decision alone as towhether they continue.

The one-year delay is cold comfort to many arts and sports organizations,which maintain that the bill still amounts to a ban on sponsorship.

"We put forth a set of reasonable proposals, but [Mr. Dingwall has] ignoredthem," said Max Beck, general manager of Toronto's Ontario Place andspokesman for the Alliance on Sponsorship Freedom. "Why he's intent onputting these organizations out of business is beyond us."

And he warned that Ontario Place, which hosts the tobacco-sponsored Symphonyof Fire fireworks display, will try to enlist the thousands of peopleexpected to visit the site this summer in its campaign to defeat C-71. "Thismight be a very hot issue as the election rolls along," he said.

The legislation would place severe restrictions on where and in what formtobacco company logos can appear on advertisements for arts and sportingevents. For example, it would restrict tobacco brand names to a 10-per-centstrip along the bottom of any ads or posters, prohibit the broadcast ofsponsorship ads and restrict most ads to event sites. At present, there areno limits.

The alliance, a coalition of 250 arts and sporting organizations thatreceive tobacco industry funds, had been lobbying for more substantialchanges to the bill. They had wanted the 10-per-cent rule changed to 15 percent, off-site ads allowed and special exemptions for a broad class ofinternational events.

In Montreal, where tobacco companies spend almost half of the $60-millionthey put toward sponsorships every year, officials of cultural and sportingevents were deeply disappointed.

Richard Legendre, director of Montreal's du Maurier Open tennischampionships, said the tournament will go on this year but 1998 looksmurky. Montreal-based Imperial Tobacco Ltd., the Imasco Ltd. unit thatsponsors the event, won't commit to next year until it can determine theeffect of the proposed law, he said.

"Imagine trying to find in Montreal right now $4-million or $5-million peryear to sponsor a tennis event, while jazz, Just for Laughs, Formula One arealso going to be looking for sponsors," he said.

And a senior tobacco industry official said the delay may not be enough tosave sponsorships this year. Robert Parker, president of the TobaccoManufacturers Council, said the core advertising restrictions in the billare so sweeping that they could be used to block sponsorship ads as well.

It's still less than certain the government will be able to pass the billbefore the next election, expected as early as June. But Mr. Dingwall vowedthe bill will be back to the Commons for a vote immediately after theone-week parliamentary break that begins Monday.

Source: The Globe and Mail Company; Used by permission