Mr. Speaker,

Today I have the great privilege of tabling a piece of legislation to create the "Smoke-Free Ontario Act."

This is an enormously proud moment for me and for our government.

I say that not because the battle is won.

It is not.

In the battle against smoking and the deadly effects of tobacco on smokers and non-smokers alike, we still have much to do, and a very long way to go.

But today represents a crucial turning point.

As you know, during the last election we made a commitment to make Ontarians the healthiest Canadians.

We promised the people of Ontario a health care system that does more than just treat illness - in other words we promised a true ’health care‘ system instead of a ’sick care‘ system.

And we promised the comprehensive anti-tobacco strategy that is crucial to achieving these goals.

Mr. Speaker, actions speak louder than words. We are delivering on what we promised.

Our strategy is built on three pillars : protection, prevention and cessation.

Some parts are already in place. My colleague the Minister of Finance has begun to increase taxes to bring the price of Ontario cigarettes closer to the national average. We've also unveiled Stupid.ca, a youth anti-smoking campaign aimed at young people, developed by young people.

In the New Year, we will be moving forward with a coordinated effort to help Ontarians stop smoking.

But the most important element of our anti-tobacco plan – the cornerstone of our strategy - is our commitment to make all workplaces and enclosed public spaces in Ontario 100% smoke-free.

Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to do just that.

This bill, creating the ”Smoke-Free Ontario Act“, would protect all Ontarians from the deadly effects of cigarette smoke, whether they are in their office, at a restaurant, in the laundry room of their apartment building, on the floor of a factory, in an underground parking garage, or at a shopping mall.

In other words, unless Ontarians want to be exposed to cigarette smoke, they won't be.

No worker in Ontario, no truck driver, no home care worker, no blackjack dealer or bartender at a legion will be compelled to accept deadly second-hand smoke as a condition of employment.

It is proposed that this Bill would come into force on May 31, 2006, and would augment the existing patch-work of municipal by-laws with one province-wide law. And I'm proud to say that this is a law with no exemptions.

As I've said before, it would apply to Legion Halls. It would apply to private clubs. It would apply to bingo halls and to casinos. And it would eliminate so-called "Designated Smoking Rooms."

100% smoke-free means 100% smoke-free, and that's what this legislation would do.

Now let me take a moment to tell you what it does not do.

It doesn't deal with smoking in the home.

Speaker, I look forward to the day when nobody smokes anywhere in Ontario, but I'm someone who believes that the state has no place in the bedrooms, or in the rec rooms, of the nation.

And so we're saying to Ontarians, if you want to smoke at home, we're not going to stop you.

We would obviously encourage people with children to step outside to smoke, but we will not legislate this point either.

We would also permit hotels to set aside a certain number of rooms for guests who smoke, and permit Long Term Care homes to allow their residents to smoke in a controlled setting. As I've said many times, these are homes, and we will treat them as such, but we will also ensure that employees are protected from the effects of second-hand smoke.

I also want to emphasize that there would be two instances in which we would regulate smoking in private homes :

• If you choose to operate a licenced in-home daycare in your home, then you cannot smoke in your home when there are children present;
• and a health care worker, when treating you in your home, has the right to freedom from second-hand smoke.

And in both instances, we would have measures in place to protect employees who work in these areas.

A second principle that guided us was to not dictate what people can do outdoors.

There's been some talk about a 9 meter smoking ban around doorways. That's not something that is in this bill, it's not something we ever had in early drafts of this bill, and it's not something we promised in our platform.

It goes without saying, however, that the existing 9 meter ban around hospital doorways would remain in place.

We are also not proposing to ban smoking on outdoor patios. But let me be clear : an outdoor patio must be a true outdoor patio.

We will not have the bar and restaurant workers of this province being forced to endanger their health in enclosed spaces filled with cigarette smoke. It's as simple as that.

The days of restaurants and bars enclosing their decks with canvas walls and roofs, masquerading them as "patios" when in reality they function as smoking rooms, are over.

Now, one of the very few instances where we would prohibit smoking outdoors is for assigned seats at a sporting or entertainment event.

As I said earlier, it is our intention that unless Ontarians want to be exposed to cigarette smoke, they won't be… and that includes being stuck beside a smoker at a concert or baseball game.

Mr. Speaker, there's another component to this bill which deserves attention. Our retail display ban.

We've all walked into convenience stores and seen elaborate countertop displays promoting smoking, precisely at the eye-level of young children.

Mr. Speaker, does anyone really believe that it is somehow acceptable for cigarettes to be mixed in with Twizzlers and hockey cards for the benefit of young potential consumers?

We do not, and we are proposing to ban these countertop displays. Our Bill would also ban all displays which permit customers to handle tobacco products before purchasing them.

We're also proposing to make it tougher for young people to buy cigarettes, by requiring retailers to demand ID from anyone who appears to be under the age of 25.

Finally, this legislation would limit the size of behind-the-counter displays of cigarettes to distinguish between a legitimate display and what is effectively a billboard.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill of which we can all be proud.

We've consulted with Ontarians in drafting it. My Parliamentary Assistant Peter Fonseca has done a great job working closely with stakeholders to ensure that our common objectives were met in a fair and reasonable way.

I should also note that our efforts build on the important work done by others, including former health minister Ruth Grier, as well as federal colleagues, particularly Diane Marleau and Allan Rock. I'm proud to be in that kind of company.

This is a fair and balanced piece of legislation, and it helps us towards an absolutely critical goal: healthier Ontarians. And because of that, we intend to be very firm in implementing this new law.

We would dedicate the resources necessary to enforce this proposed new legislation when in comes into effect.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to an opportunity to discuss this bill in greater detail, and 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.

We're not there yet, but with the passage of this bill, Ontario would once again be a leader in the battle against tobacco.

Our anti-smoking strategy, taken as a whole, is the toughest, most comprehensive, far-reaching in North America. That's something we should all celebrate.

Because tobacco is the number one killer in Ontario. It's the number one preventable cause of death, killing more people that AIDS, traffic accidents, and alcohol combined.

Tobacco kills more than 16,000 Ontarians each year.

That's about 44 today, another 44 tomorrow, and on and on and on.

In addition to the human toll, tobacco also takes a horrible economic toll. Ontario spends more than $1.7 billion dollars a year treating tobacco-related illness.

Tobacco destroys lives. It rips families apart. It clogs our hospitals and damages our economy.

Mr. Speaker, this government will not stand idly by as this destruction continues. We have an obligation to protect and preserve the health of Ontarians.

So I invite all Members of this House to look carefully at what's in this bill, to help us fine-tune any details, and to join with us as we work to make Ontario the most smoke-free jurisdiction in North America.

Thank you.