The Harper government is being accused of bowing to pressure from tobacco lobbyists in its decision to extinguish plans for new warning labels on cigarette packages. But the health minister insists the accusations are unfounded.

On Thursday, the government was grilled during testimony at hearings by a parliamentary committee that's probing the government's anti-tobacco strategy.

The committee wants to know why the Conservatives has not followed through on plans -- first made in 2004 -- to force tobacco companies to update health warnings on cigarette labels to make them larger and more graphic.

Plans for the new campaign cost more than $3.6 million over six years, according to documents released this week. But in late September, Health Canada abruptly announced at a closed-door meeting that it was suspending the project, as well as plans for a hotline for smokers wanting to quit.

No explanation was given, though Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said she wanted "to take a step back" from the plan and focus on fighting contraband tobacco.

On Thursday, the committee demanded answers.

Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, testified that plans for the campaign appeared to be moving along well at Health Canada.

"Something happened when this file left Health Canada," Callard said.

Geoffrey Fong, a professor at the University of Waterloo's Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, testified that the current warning labels are no longer effective and need an overhaul.

"There's no justification for delaying the revision of the health warnings," he told the committee.

Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief public health officer, said his officials were ready to make changes to warning labels this month. He wondered whether the federal government was influenced by the tobacco industry.

"I need to ask why the interests of the tobacco industry are being placed above the health of Canadians and the interests of provincial and territorial governments," he told the committee.

Adding fuel to the anger are revelations in federal government meeting logs that show that Ottawa met with Imperial Tobacco back in May to discuss "suspended regulatory projects."

That was months before the agency told provincial health officials and anti-tobacco advocates that the plans for larger cigarette warning labels were being put on hold.

Liberal Health Critic Ujjal Dosanjh told the House of Commons later in the day that records show that the Conservatives were heavily lobbied by big tobacco.

"The Conservatives spent $4 million to create new warnings for cigarettes, then buckled under the pressure of big tobacco and killed them," he said.

"How can the Conservatives justify promising new warnings, spending $4 million on them, and then killing them?"

Aglukkaq denied favouring cigarette makers, telling reporters that the government is "not in bed with big tobacco." She promised that an aggressive anti-smoking strategy will be unveiled in the next few weeks.

"I'm evaluating all our options in regards to communicating with Canadians on reducing smoking levels ... It includes labels," Aglukkaq said.

As for plans to include more graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, Aglukkaq said: "I have not shelved that project."