Media Invitation - Note - Two Separate News Conferences - Canadian
Convenience Stores Association Unveils New Campaign aimed at Decreasing
Contraband Tobacco Use in Markham and Richmond Hill

TORONTO, May 25 /CNW/ - Every day in Ontario, two convenience stores close their doors. That's enough for the members of the Canadian Convenience Store Association to invite media to the Markham and Richmond Hill stops of a 25-city Ontario tour aimed at pressuring members of the Federal and Provincial governments to intensify the fight against contraband tobacco in their communities.

After seven years of alarming growth, Ontario and Quebec have the highest concentration of illicit tobacco manufacturing operations, the majority of the high-volume smuggling points and the largest number of consumers of contraband tobacco according to the RCMP (2009 Update Report).

At the news conferences the CCSA's new campaign aimed at local politicians to join the fight against contraband activity will be unveiled.

    
                                   Details
                                   -------

    WHAT:   Convenience store owners' anti-contraband tobacco campaign
            unveiling

    WHEN:   Wednesday, May 26, 2010

    WHERE:  Markham - 10:30 a.m.
            Markville Mall - 5000 Highway 7 (Southwest corner of parking lot
            at Highway 7 and Bullock Drive), Markham

            Richmond Hill - 2 p.m.
            Convenience Plus Store - 9251 Yonge Street (at 16th Avenue),
            Richmond Hill

    WHO:    Wendy Kadlovski - Chair of the Ontario Convenience Stores
            Association
            Convenience store owners from the Markham and Richmond Hill areas
    

For further information: Dianna Eakins, Media Contact, Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA), T. [phone], E. [email protected]