“Falling Behind on Smoking, ” Edmonton Journal, November 26, 2003

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SEARCH Story » Super Search Falling behind on smoking » People Finder » Business Finder The Edmonton Journal » OnLine Shopping » Careers Wednesday, November 26, 2003 » Autos ADVERTISEMENT The Alberta government has taken great steps to reduce the number of smokers in the province. So it is both surprising and disheartening to now hear that banning smoking in the workplace is not a government priority.

Alberta led the way in Canada last year by increasing tobacco taxes, a move that saw tobacco sales drop by 24 per cent and cut the number of smokers in the province by 44,000.

The province introduced an $11.7-million anti-tobacco strategy, committing $4 for every Albertan, the highest per-capita spending on tobacco control in the country.

At the time, Health Minister Gary Mar said that the government would take a hard look at banning smoking in the workplace -- which includes restaurants and bars -- and that legislation could reasonably be expected within the year.

Optimists who thought Mar had a chance of getting such legislation through government would have been wiser to heed the comments of the premier at the time. "We're not looking at provincial legislation to ban smoking. That's a municipal area," Ralph Klein said only days before Mar's announcement.

Now, more than a year and a half later, Mar acknowledges he didn't have the support of caucus for the move. His colleague, Clint Dunford, the man responsible for workplace safety in the province, says "we're not ready yet to move forward in that particular area."

As a result, Alberta, after briefly showing leadership on this issue, is now one of the few provinces with no plans of its own afoot to protect its citizens from the hazard of second-hand smoke.

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In Ontario, the new Liberal government's anti-smoking package was part of Premier Dalton McGuinty's campaign platform. A bill introduced in the Ontario legislature this week will not only raise tobacco taxes, it will ban smoking in all workplaces and public spaces in the province by 2006.

In Manitoba, where smoking bans are already in effect in the cities of Winnipeg and Brandon, an all-party task force toured the province and found a strong majority of people favoured a provincewide ban. A plan to introduce the legislation was announced in the recent throne speech.

Nunavut, which has the highest smoking rate in the country, has taken the lead in this area and has already passed legislation that will ban workplace smoking within two years.

Prince Edward Island has implemented a unique system provincewide, allowing bars and restaurants to set up separately ventilated smoking rooms where no food or liquor can be served, so workers are not exposed to second-hand smoke.

Alberta and New Brunswick are the only provinces without any provincewide restrictions, other than a ban on smoking in provincial government offices. Even on that front, Alberta politicians have managed to exempt themselves from the rules, allowing MLAs to smoke in their own offices.

Despite all their tough talk on health-care reform and improving the health of Albertans, provincial politicians, particularly the premier, insist that restrictions on smoking must be implemented by municipalities through bylaws.

As a result, Alberta has a patchwork system of rules in which businesses in Edmonton and Strathcona County can legitimately complain they're forced to operate under tougher restrictions than their counterparts in other communities.

While that's not an argument to loosen restrictions in more forward- thinking municipalities, it is a compelling reason for the province to act to level the playing field by imposing a workplace ban across Alberta.

Nor is it fair to assume the issue is an urban-rural one. To do so is to insult the intelligence of rural Albertans, whose concerns about the health effects of second-hand smoke are just as valid, and likely just as prevalent. Indeed, many rural municipalities have already passed bylaws that restrict smoking in some locations.

Edmonton bars, restaurants and casinos will be smoke-free by 2005. Strathcona County already has similar restrictions. A Calgary ban takes full effect in 2008.

The province should be taking its cue from municipalities that have done much of the hard work already, instead of undermining their efforts by refusing to implement a provincewide ban.

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