May 31, 2006 Ontario Goes Smoke-Free Historic Law To Protect Ontarians Health QUEEN’S PARK - Ontarians’ right to be free from second-hand smoke is now law. “The McGuinty government is on the side of Ontarians who are concerned about their health. This unprecedented action is the cornerstone of our Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy,” said Minister of Health Promotion Jim Watson. “Tobacco causes about one preventable death in Ontario every 30 minutes; that’s16,000 lives in Ontario every year.” The Smoke-Free Ontario Act makes enclosed public places and workplaces 100 per cent smoke free. It replaces the existing patchwork of municipal no-smoking by-laws by creating uniform minimum standards across Ontario. The Act also makes it more difficult for youth to smoke by tightening access to cigarettes, requiring retailers to ask for ID if a person appears younger than 25. Impulse buying is also addressed in the act by immediately limiting - and ultimately banning by 2008 - how retailers display and promote tobacco products. Since 2003, the McGuinty government’s investment in tobacco control programs has increased six-fold to $60 million and tobacco use has fallen about ten per cent, about half-way to the government’s commitment to cut tobacco use by 20 percent before the end of 2007. The act is the centrepiece of the McGuinty government’s three-part Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy: youth prevention strategy, which includes peer-to-peer programs and the award-winning stupid.ca campaign; protecting Ontarians from exposure to second-hand smoke; and cessation programs. “I regret that Heather Crowe, who was an inspirational force behind this strategy, did not live to see her efforts become the law across Ontario,” said Watson. Heather Crowe, who never smoked, recently died from lung cancer after working in smoke-filled restaurants for over 40 years. It is just the latest example of how the government is working to protect the health and well-being of Ontario families. Other highlights of the government’s tobacco control initiatives for 2006-07 include: o Working with our health care partners and the community to help smokers
quit by investing in programs like the Smokers’ Helpline and the
STOP study. |