According to a report in Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper, the Government of Ontario plans to amend legislation to ban smoking on all restaurant and bar patios as well as at playgrounds and sports fields.
The new came via an announcement from Health Minister Deb Matthews on Wednesday.
Mathews said restaurant and bar owners were cognisant of the fact that the majority of people don’t want to be exposed to second-hand smoke on patios.
“I think they understand that this was coming,” she said. “About 70 per cent of Ontarians actually want to ban smoking on patios because they’re people like me. I love to sit outside on a patio, but I don’t like being surrounded by smoke.”
Adverse reaction
The Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association complained the government didn’t consult the sector before announcing the patio ban, and said there was a real “fear” among some business owners that they will lose customers, and money.
“Smokers will still go outside near the patio and they will puff cigarettes at passersby who are not expecting a puff of smoke,” said association CEO Tony Elenis. “Under the existing regulations, which we are happy with, customers and businesses make a choice.”
Ontario will also bar tobacco sales on college and university campuses, double fines for stores that sell cigarettes to minors, and will ban all sales of candy- and fruit-flavoured tobacco products, not just prohibit sales to minors.
Support
The new measures have won the full backing of the Canadian Cancer Society, which noted that tobacco claims 13,000 lives in Ontario annually.
“The restrictions on the sales of tobacco and on smoking in parks and hospital grounds – and the monumental ban of smoking on all patios – will go a long way to reducing second-hand smoke exposures to workers and patrons,” Cancer Society spokeswoman Rowena Pinto, told the newspaper.
The Ontario bill would extend the current prohibition on selling flavoured tobacco cigarillos and chewing tobacco to youth to a total sales ban, although there would be an exemption for menthol cigarettes which Matthews said are preferred by adults.
The Ontario government believes many youth start smoking with cigarillos that taste like chocolate or strawberry or even those named after popular alcohol drinks.
Jamaican situation
The Government of Jamaica earlier this year also introduced tough new restrictions on smoking in public spaces, including restaurants and bars, to protests from operators of many of these facilities, including those in the tourism sector.
Already, however, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, the Minister of Health, has announced a noticeable reduction in asthma cases at public hospitals.
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