Ontario smokers buy aboriginal cigs

Illegal cigarettes from native reserves cost government over $100 million:  studyA new study which found one-quarter of Ontario smokers bought contraband cigarettes from aboriginal reserves, costing the province at least $72 million in lost tax revenue, should be a wake-up call to the governing Liberals to crack down on illegal tobacco sales, critics said Monday.

The study, conducted between January 2005 and June 2006 for the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, found 37 per cent of Ontario smokers avoided paying hefty tobacco taxes by purchasing their smokes from aboriginal reserves, while 26 per cent said they had done so in the last six months.