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Canada

The End of the Smoking Era Is in Sight

 

Compiled by brother-initiate Steven Tran, Ponte Vedra,
Florida, USA (Originally in English)


In Canada, day by day, smoking is becoming a thing of the past. The number of smokers decline every year and in recent days, smokers in Ontario  ♥♥♥♥♥ and Quebec ♥♥♥♥♥, the two biggest provinces in the east, puffed on their last cigarettes in public on Tuesday May 31, Golden Year 3 (2006) as both provinces banned smoking in public places. The Quebec law, which is similar to Ontario’s, applies to such places as restaurants, bars, casinos, bowling alleys, bingo halls, churches, school yards and outside health establishments.

The province-wide smoking law is a major change in Quebec because there are no municipal smoking bylaws. In Ontario, the ban covers even those working alone in the privacy of a company vehicle. That applies to couriers, delivery people, cabbies and others. In these two provinces, it is now illegal to smoke indoors in any public place, like common areas of apartment buildings, the lobbies of office buildings, the workplace and most notably, in bars and restaurants. It also states that any smoking within nine meters of medical and health facilities is not allowed.

The law also severely restricts where cigarettes can be sold: only indoors in a permanent structure with a floor and a door, not including bars and restaurants. Cigarette vending machines are banned and by 2007, convenience stores will not be allowed to have visible displays of cigarettes. Large displays for tobacco sales would be prohibited as well.

Smokers caught lighting up will face fines of $50 CAD ($45.5 USD) to $300 CAD ($272 USD) for a first offence and $100 CAD ($90.9 USD) to $600 CAD ($546 USD) for repeat offences, while business owners will pay fines of $1,000 CAD ($909 USD) to $10,000 CAD ($9090 USD). According to the Mayor of Gatineau, Quebec, Marc Bureau, “It will be good for the next generation and for the health of the people. It will also reduce our hospital costs because fewer people will require treatment for diseases.”

 
References:

1. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/smoking/smokingbans.html

2. http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-smokingban20060530.html

3.http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/29052006/2/national-ontario-quebec-play-good-cop-bad-cop-smoking-ban.html

4.http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/21052006/2/national-quebec-counting-days-smoking-banned-public-places.html

 

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