Is smoking bad for you? Leo Laporte, who graduated from McGill as a Chemical Engineer, didn't think so. He joined Imperial Tobacco in Montreal in 1928 and almost 40 years later was still insisting that there's no evidence of a link between smoking and lung cancer.
His staff of 90 "scientists, engineers, quality control and technical service people" apparently agreed.
In 1963 the Canadian Medical Association's proposal on warning labels on cigarettes.
"No substance as found in tobacco smoke is known to be the cause of lung cancer in humans and this is a vital defect of hte proposal."
"Many eminent scientists publicly question the cause and effect relationship of cigarette smoking and health," he said
Some other notable smoking dates:
In 1955 Canada had 13 projects to research lung cancer but by 1961 there were only two, and that's because they couldn't find any animals to smoke.
1987: Air Canada "experiments with non-smoking flights."
1994: study said that smoking should not be discouraged because it makes people die younger, hence the government saves money on old age pensions.
2006: Indoor smoking ban kicks off in Quebec and Ontario.