Media Clipping — Friday October 14, 2005, The Chronicle Herald

D-day for smokers; N.S. aims to ban smoking in all indoor public spaces by Dec. 2006

Smoking would be banned in almost all indoor public places across the province in December 2006, under a bill tabled Thursday at Province House.

Health Promotion Minister Rodney MacDonald announced in May that the province would implement the ban.

"It was always a promise of when, not if, this would be introduced," Mr. MacDonald said.

"Dec. 1, 2006, will be marked as a milestone in our work toward a healthier Nova Scotia."

Mr. MacDonald said the legislation would be the toughest in the country.

It would ban smoking in legions, bars, restaurants and casinos. Smoking would not be permitted at sidewalk cafes and patios, private clubs or in workplaces.

Residents of licensed nursing homes and licensed residential care facilities would be able to smoke there because that's where they live, Mr. MacDonald said. Employees wouldn't be permitted to smoke. Mr. MacDonald said the ban would also apply to First Nations reserves.

"It applies to all Nova Scotians, including our First Nations," he said. "It will apply to public places, regardless of what community you live in in Nova Scotia."

Chief Lawrence Paul of the Millbrook band disagreed.

"They can't enforce that law upon us," he said. "We're federal turf. They've got no jurisdiction on our land." Chief Paul compared the issue to Sunday shopping, which isn't permitted under provincial law, but he said would be allowed on the reserve. There's no Sunday shopping there now. He said some buildings on the reserve have smoke-eaters, and the gambling buildings have smoking rooms.

Mr. MacDonald said the province won't compensate bar and restaurant owners who built special smoking areas to comply with the Smoke-free Places Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2003.

The minister said that was a business decision some owners made, while others chose not to build such rooms. Victor Syperek, who owns several bars and a restaurant in Halifax, said the government is being hypocritical.

"They're making a substance basically illegal for people to use that they garner an immense amount of taxes from," he said.

"As a non-smoker personally, if it's across the board, then the sooner the better."

Mr. Syperek said he thinks the ban will put some businesses under.

He said he'd been expecting the full ban and didn't expect compensation for his smoking room, though he wouldn't have minded. He noted the province had first suggested the full ban would come in 2008.

The province estimates treating smoking-related illnesses costs about $170 million a year, the figure included in a 2000 GPI Atlantic report.

The province expects to collect $178 million in tobacco taxes this year.

Justice Minister Michael Baker, who announced Thursday that the province will try to recover health-care costs from tobacco companies, said the government isn't interested in tax revenue from tobacco.

"I know from speaking with my colleagues in cabinet if every Nova Scotian would quit smoking, we would gladly give up every penny and dollar in (revenue)," he said.

Dr. Robert Strang, president of Smoke-Free Nova Scotia, said the ban is a strong step in cutting provincial smoking rates.

"By having a 100 per cent ban across the board, (it) makes enforcement and compliance and education . . . much easier than our current legislation, and I think we just have to be patient," he said.

No one has been fined under the Smoke-free Places Act, but many warnings were issued, said staff at the Office of Health Promotion. There are about 75 enforcement officers across four government departments.

The opposition parties both support a complete ban and wanted one sooner.

Liberal MLA Dave Wilson said he wasn't surprised to see news conferences by two ministers considering a run at replacing Premier John Hamm.

"That's what this whole session is going to be about - playing politics with people who think they're going to be the next leader of the Tory party," Mr. Wilson said.

The province launched a tobacco control strategy in October 2001 to reduce smoking and the effects of second-hand smoke, especially among young Nova Scotians.

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