It's official. I'm moving back...
Bar and corner-store owners winced while anti-tobacco activists celebrated today as the Ontario government introduced a provincewide ban on smoking, part of what it considers the toughest anti-tobacco strategy on the continent.
The new Smoke Free Ontario Act would, if passed, prohibit smoking in all workplaces and public places, including bars, restaurants, casinos and legion halls, leaving smokers with a lone indoor refuge: their own homes.
"I look forward to the day when all of us in this chamber can say to the people of this province that Ontario is now smoke-free," Health Minister George Smitherman told the legislature upon introducing the bill.
"We're not there yet, but with the passage of this bill, Ontario would once again be a leader in the battle against tobacco."
The legislation, which would come into effect in May 2006, would also prohibit establishments from permitting smokers to light up on enclosed outdoor patios and in private clubs, and outlaw so-called ``designated smoking rooms."
It would, however, permit residents of long-term care facilities to smoke in designated areas and also allow hotels to offer smoking suites to their customers.
The legislation stops short of regulating tobacco use in private dwellings, except in cases where a home operates as a daycare or is visited regularly by a health-care worker.
"If you want to smoke at home, we're not going to stop you," Smitherman said. "We would obviously encourage people with children to step outside to smoke, but we will not legislate this point either."
The new law would also restrict the display of tobacco products in stores, banning countertop displays and the massive tobacco ``power walls" that serve as a backdrop for many convenience-store counters across Canada.
"Does anyone believe that it is somehow acceptable for cigarettes to be mixed in with Twizzlers and hockey cards for the benefit of young potential customers?" Smitherman said.
New Democrat health critic Shelley Martel said the Liberals haven't done enough to cushion the blow to tobacco farmers and smokers who want to quit.
"I remain very disappointed that there is a huge gap between what the government promised in the first year to invest and what the government is actually spending," Martel said.
Help for smokers is coming, Smitherman promised, but the government hasn't decided whether it can afford to subsidize smoking cessation aids like the patch or add quit-smoking medications to the Ontario drug formulary.
"No firm decision has been taken," he said. "It's quite cost-prohibitive on an ongoing basis, but we are looking at opportunities to try to bring those products, which are effective for some people, into reach."
Conservative critic Jim Flaherty urged the government to provide assistance to businesses that have each invested as much as $300,000 to set up specially ventilated smoking rooms to comply with municipal bylaws, only to have them shut down by the province.
It will be at least another five years before many of those businesses can recoup the cost of those renovations, Flaherty said.
The Liberals have promised a tobacco transition program, including $50 million for Ontario farmers and communities where 95 per cent of Canadian tobacco is produced. But when that money will flow remains unclear.
"We're currently exploring options right now and trying to develop an option that best suits the needs of growers and communities in Ontario," said Agriculture Minister Steve Peters.
"I can't speculate on when a decision and an announcement might be made."
Retailers, members of the hospitality industry and advocates for the rights of Canada's smokers were predictably incensed by the proposed ban.
Restaurants have recovered somewhat from the impact of municipal smoking bans, but bars and pubs face financial peril, said Terry Mundell, president of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association.
"What does the government plan to do to make sure that that industry remains sustainable?" Mundell asked. "What about our economic benefit, our economic livelihood? That's the issue for us. They've talked about it for farmers, they haven't talked about it for us."
Nancy Daigneault of mychoice.ca, an online rights group financed by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council, said Canadian smokers are growing weary of being pushed out the door.
"Our members are not talking about turning back the clock and forcing smoking on non-smokers," Daigneault said.
"They're saying: don't remove choice from us, don't force us or stigmatize us into quitting. Don't tell us that we can't go to a bar or a restaurant with a designated smoking room and take that choice away from us."
If passed, Ontario would join Manitoba and New Brunswick as the only provinces to go completely smoke-free, and also join Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut in restricting the display of tobacco products.
-James McCarten, Candian Press
The new Smoke Free Ontario Act would, if passed, prohibit smoking in all workplaces and public places, including bars, restaurants, casinos and legion halls, leaving smokers with a lone indoor refuge: their own homes.
"I look forward to the day when all of us in this chamber can say to the people of this province that Ontario is now smoke-free," Health Minister George Smitherman told the legislature upon introducing the bill.
"We're not there yet, but with the passage of this bill, Ontario would once again be a leader in the battle against tobacco."
The legislation, which would come into effect in May 2006, would also prohibit establishments from permitting smokers to light up on enclosed outdoor patios and in private clubs, and outlaw so-called ``designated smoking rooms."
It would, however, permit residents of long-term care facilities to smoke in designated areas and also allow hotels to offer smoking suites to their customers.
The legislation stops short of regulating tobacco use in private dwellings, except in cases where a home operates as a daycare or is visited regularly by a health-care worker.
"If you want to smoke at home, we're not going to stop you," Smitherman said. "We would obviously encourage people with children to step outside to smoke, but we will not legislate this point either."
The new law would also restrict the display of tobacco products in stores, banning countertop displays and the massive tobacco ``power walls" that serve as a backdrop for many convenience-store counters across Canada.
"Does anyone believe that it is somehow acceptable for cigarettes to be mixed in with Twizzlers and hockey cards for the benefit of young potential customers?" Smitherman said.
New Democrat health critic Shelley Martel said the Liberals haven't done enough to cushion the blow to tobacco farmers and smokers who want to quit.
"I remain very disappointed that there is a huge gap between what the government promised in the first year to invest and what the government is actually spending," Martel said.
Help for smokers is coming, Smitherman promised, but the government hasn't decided whether it can afford to subsidize smoking cessation aids like the patch or add quit-smoking medications to the Ontario drug formulary.
"No firm decision has been taken," he said. "It's quite cost-prohibitive on an ongoing basis, but we are looking at opportunities to try to bring those products, which are effective for some people, into reach."
Conservative critic Jim Flaherty urged the government to provide assistance to businesses that have each invested as much as $300,000 to set up specially ventilated smoking rooms to comply with municipal bylaws, only to have them shut down by the province.
It will be at least another five years before many of those businesses can recoup the cost of those renovations, Flaherty said.
The Liberals have promised a tobacco transition program, including $50 million for Ontario farmers and communities where 95 per cent of Canadian tobacco is produced. But when that money will flow remains unclear.
"We're currently exploring options right now and trying to develop an option that best suits the needs of growers and communities in Ontario," said Agriculture Minister Steve Peters.
"I can't speculate on when a decision and an announcement might be made."
Retailers, members of the hospitality industry and advocates for the rights of Canada's smokers were predictably incensed by the proposed ban.
Restaurants have recovered somewhat from the impact of municipal smoking bans, but bars and pubs face financial peril, said Terry Mundell, president of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association.
"What does the government plan to do to make sure that that industry remains sustainable?" Mundell asked. "What about our economic benefit, our economic livelihood? That's the issue for us. They've talked about it for farmers, they haven't talked about it for us."
Nancy Daigneault of mychoice.ca, an online rights group financed by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council, said Canadian smokers are growing weary of being pushed out the door.
"Our members are not talking about turning back the clock and forcing smoking on non-smokers," Daigneault said.
"They're saying: don't remove choice from us, don't force us or stigmatize us into quitting. Don't tell us that we can't go to a bar or a restaurant with a designated smoking room and take that choice away from us."
If passed, Ontario would join Manitoba and New Brunswick as the only provinces to go completely smoke-free, and also join Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut in restricting the display of tobacco products.
-James McCarten, Candian Press