Ontario won’t ban patio smoking, says Deb Matthews

Rob Ferguson Queens Park Bureau

Ontario wont ban smoking on bar and restaurant patios, Health Minister Deb Matthews says, despite a push to do so by two health agencies.

Its not something under active consideration right now but I know many municipalities are looking at strengthening the anti-smoking provisions, she said Tuesday after calls for action from Cancer Care Ontario and Public Health Ontario.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said the Liberal government in a minority government situation is trying to play it safe instead of taking action to improve public health to save tax dollars on medical treatments.

If its harder for people to find places to light up, then theyre going to light up less often, she told reporters, crediting the two provincial agencies for pushing the envelope.

Matthews countered that the wide-ranging Smoke-Free Ontario Act in place for several years set a minimum standard for banning smoking in most public indoor places.

If municipalities want to build on that and do more, then thats a conversation I think they should be having at the community level.

The problem with that approach is different municipalities end up with different standards, leading to a patchwork of different laws, said Horwath.

Two reports from the health-care agencies also called for hiking tobacco taxes, setting minimum prices for alcoholic beverages and making physical education mandatory throughout high school measures intended to take aim at the 79 per cent of deaths in Ontario from largely preventable illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Theyre giving us some very good advice. We would much rather keep people healthy and out of our health-care system than treat them when they get sick.

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Ontario won’t ban patio smoking, says Deb Matthews