Ontario will extend smoking ban to patios, playgrounds

Sale of tobacco products will also end on university campuses, minister says

TORONTO Ontario’s Liberal government plans to amend legislation to ban smoking on all restaurant and bar patios as well as at playgrounds and sports fields, provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews announced Wednesday.

Restaurant and bar owners know that the majority of people don’t want to be exposed to second-hand smoke on patios, Matthews said as she announced a series of measures to lower Ontario’s smoking rate.

“I think they understand that this was coming,” she said. “About 70 per cent of Ontarians actually want to ban smoking on patios because they’re people like me. I love to sit outside on a patio, but I don’t like being surrounded by smoke.”

The Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association complained the government didn’t consult the sector before announcing the patio ban, and said there was a real “fear” among some business owners that they will lose customers, and money.

The New Democrats were worried the Liberals wouldn’t have the resolve to stand up to the expected opposition to the smoking ban on patios.

“You have to be ready to defend this to a lot of people who will push back, and my experience with them is when there is a push back they disappear into the woods,” said NDP health critic France Gelinas.

Ontario will also bar tobacco sales on college and university campuses, double fines for stores that sell cigarettes to minors and will ban all sales of candy- and fruit-flavoured tobacco products, not just prohibit sales to minors.

The Canadian Cancer Society applauded Matthews for taking steps to reduce the smoking rate.