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