Canada: Toronto to Consider Wider Outdoor Smoking Ban

Source from:  Toronto (Ont) Star (ca)  09/27/2013

Toronto's top doctor is urging city council and the province to ban smoking from a host of outdoor spaces, including restaurant and bar patios, beaches, sports fields and entrances to public buildings.

Councillor Joe Mihevc, chair of the city's health board, which will consider the recommendations next week, said they are "the next step in trying to control and cut back on the amount of illness and death that come from tobacco smoke."

"It is public health's responsibility to be proactive in finding ways to minimize, and even eliminate where possible, smoking," he said.

The comprehensive strategy for a more smoke-free Toronto follows consultations with the public and restaurant owners. The health board directed public health last year to launch consultations to strengthen protection from second-hand smoke.

In a staff report, Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's medical officer of health, recommends the city extend no-puff zones to swimming beaches, sports fields, park amenities, public squares and near entrances and exits to public buildings.

He is also asking the province to ban smoking from hospital grounds as well as all uncovered restaurant and bar patios.

"Images of people smoking in public places normalize smoking in the minds of children and youth," the report notes.

On Monday, those gathered in some of the outdoor spaces targeted for smoke-free status gave the recommendations mixed reviews.

April Blanchard, who was smoking outside Old City Hall, far from the signs that already prohibit lighting up near the entrance, said she supports the push to limit smoking in certain public places.

"Half the time I don't like walking down the street and smoking. People are allergic to smoke. People don't like smoke," she said.

But she stressed that there should be a limit to the ban.

"I don't smoke in my house, so where am I going to smoke?" she said.

Bartender Ken Yee, who works at Scotland Yard on the Esplanade amid a row of patio-flanked pubs, said outdoor watering holes have become a "sanctuary" for smokers.

"That's what patios offer right now — a place to have a beer and a smoke. It's your choice to come here," he said.

Although other municipalities, such as Ottawa, have amended bylaws to ban smoking on restaurant patios, that approach is more complicated in Toronto, where amalgamation has resulted in a handful of different bylaws governing boulevard cafes.

Samantha Grant, spokeswoman for Health Minister Deb Matthews, did not commit to considering McKeown's recommendations if they are approved.

But in an email, she said the province is "always looking for new ways to keep Ontarians healthy as we work towards our goal of having the lowest smoking rates in Canada."

If Queen's Park doesn't take action, the report calls for the medical officer to examine "municipal approaches to smoke-free patios."

It is a prospect that does not sit well with Tony Elenis, president and CEO of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, who said banning smoking from patios just pushes smokers onto the sidewalk, and "does not solve the issue of stopping people to smoke." Enditem