Ontario to ban smoking on restaurant and bar patios, sports fields

The Ontario government plans to amend legislation to ban smoking on all restaurant and bar patios as well as at playgrounds and sports fields.
(Steve Payne/The New York Times)

Keith Leslie

Toronto — The Canadian Press:

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, 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. “Smokers will still go outside near the patio and they will puff cigarettes at passersby who are not expecting a puff of smoke,” said association CEO Tony Elenis. “Under the existing regulations, which we are happy with, customers and businesses make a choice.”...Read here...