Smoking in Ontario is no longer cool. Not that it has been for the last 20 years, but with the new legislation that the government has brought forward calling for all public places to become 100 per cent smoke-free by 2006, smokers will be even more ostracized from society.

"We want to de-normalize smoking," explained Health Minister George Smitherman. "We don't want kids walking into variety stores and seeing the cigarettes on the shelf beside the liquorice. Liquorice is candy, cigarettes are deadly."

Tobacco use and its related illnesses kill about 16,000 people in Ontario every year. That is about 44 people per day. Everyday. SARS killed 44 people in Ontario in all of 2003 and made international headlines. Another 44 people in Ontario will die tomorrow due to tobacco-related illness- just as 44 people died from tobacco-related illness yesterday.

The new legislation, called the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, calls for all workplaces places and all public places like restaurants, underground parking garages, apartment building laundry rooms, and legion halls, to become 100per cent smoke-free by May 31, 2006.

If the legislation passes, the days of the Designated Smoking Rooms (DSRs) in restaurants will be gone as well. According to Michael Perley, the Director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, designated smoking rooms don't work.

"Of over 100 DSRs tested in York Region during the past two years, 78 per cent failed to meet minimum operational standards," Perley said. "Filters were not cleaned, air supply was insufficient, and doors were left open."

When the McGuinty government came into office in 2003, they made a commitment to giving Ontarians a health care system that was more than just a "sick care" system. Their idea of health care included a focus on caring for the sick, combined with a focus on health, wellness and prevention. The tobacco control strategy shares similar goals. Along with preventing people from smoking in public places, the legislation calls for retail display controls as well.

Currently some cities and towns in the province are already smoke-free, while others are not. Legislation has been put forward to create one law that would replace the existing patchwork of municipal by-laws. The idea is to protect people from second-hand smoke.

As part of the government's comprehensive tobacco control strategy, a separate campaign, aimed at 12-15 year olds, was created to deter kids from lighting up. It's called Stupid.ca and it is a multi-media strategy, using print ads and TV spots, along with an interactive website to get the message to kids in their own language. The campaign was created for youth, by youth, to help get the message to kids in Ontario.

Stupid.ca launched in November 2004 and has been a great success. The website has had almost 260,000 visitors over the past few months, and is continuously being updated to ensure visitors keep going back to the site for more information.

Dr. Sheela Basrur, the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, thinks the proposed legislation is a good thing.

"A growing list of cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases are linked to smoking, which is responsible for at least $1.7 billion in health care costs annually," Dr. Basrur said. "This bill is extremely important."

More information on tobacco statistics, as well as tips on how to quit smoking is available at www.healthyontario.com.

March 2005

© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2003  |  Privacy Policy  |  Disclaimers  |   Last Modified :