Plain tobacco packaging support from health associations. As in other countries, there was fierce protest from the tobacco industry and tobacco retailers associations. The Health Minister also seemed lukewarm in his support, preferring to see the effect of newly-introduced health warnings. Under the next legislature however, the new Socialist Health Minister, Marisol Touraine, said she would fight especially at the European level for "neutral packaging". As in Australia, the tobacco industry countered that generic packaging would be easy to counterfeit, which would increase illegal cigarette sales. The EU directive eventually contained no explicit measures regarding plain packaging. In reaction, the French government announced
Plain tobacco packaging changes to the tobacco products labelling regulations that included sixteen new graphic health warnings covering 75% of the principal faces of cigarette and cigarillo packages. As of September 2015, Health Canada is not planning regulatory action that would require plain or standardised packaging of tobacco products. The department considers its commitment to introduce health-related labelling requirements on cigarettes and cigarillos fulfilled. In early-October 2015, the Liberal Political Party leader, Justin Trudeau, announced that he would include the introduction of plain tobacco packaging as part of his platform, under the heading of Healthier Kids. He has received positive feedback from cancer