Smokers in Ontario will pay $1.25 more for a carton of cigarettes after the Liberal government raised tobacco taxes for the third time since coming to office.

The cost increase comes into effect midnight Tuesday, said Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara.




"With this increase, Ontario comes one step closer to its plan to raise tobacco taxes to the national average," said Sorbara.

The national average for provincial tobacco taxes is about $30, with Saskatchewan on top at $35 and Yukon at the bottom of the list at $20.40. The Ontario boost brings its tobacco taxes to $23.45.

The Ontario hike, the third since Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals were elected in October 2003, means a pack of 20 cigarettes will rise by about 13 cents, and a pack of 25 cigarettes will cost 16 cents more.

Sorbara says it's part of the province's Smoke Free Ontario campaign.

"Smoking is the number one preventable cause of premature death and illness in Ontario and it costs an estimated $1.7 billion a year in health-care spending to treat diseases directly caused by tobacco," said Sorbara.

While the government says the hike is aimed at getting people to quit, critics say such a small price increase won't make a difference.

Nancy Daignault, with the smokers' rights group Mychoice.ca, calls it a cash grab.

"They know if they increase it any more than that at any given time they will end up losing revenue because smokers will look elsewhere for their cigarettes or they will actually stop smoking," said Daignault.

Cynthia Callard, with Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada, agrees.

"Cynically I would say this is a kind of an increase that's more geared more at increasing money than at decreasing smokers," said Callard.