Tobacco industry trying to stem smoke-free trend

The Leader-Post (Regina)
Fri 02 Apr 2004

As your readers follow the debate over the Saskatchewan government's promised ban on smoking in public places ("Smoking ban ignites debate", March 20 Leader-Post), they should be aware the tobacco industry is playing a major role in supporting opposition to the ban.

On a recent radio talkshow, Tom Mullin of the Hotels Association of Saskatchewan (HAS) admitted a poll his organization had just conducted, which allegedly raised questions about public support for the ban, was in fact entirely paid for by the Canadian tobacco industry.

This development is not a surprise: in Ontario, the two most vocal opponents of province-wide smoke-free legislation -- the Fair Air Association of Canada (FAAC) and the Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada -- have both publicly admitted taking funds from the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council.

The HAS poll done by Mullin's group was in fact conducted jointly with the FAAC.

Another tobacco industry sponsored argument can be found in Saskatchewan in the Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association's (CRFA) call for ventilated smoking rooms to be part of the new legislation. A number of Ontario municipalities have allowed these rooms in local smoke-free bylaws.

Saskatchewan would be well-advised to avoid this unfortunate experience. Reports here make clear that many proprietors misuse them by leaving doors open, turning ventilation systems off, requiring staff to work in them and allowing children into them. In one region near Toronto, 28 of 35 smoking rooms failed operational tests two years ago, all with plenty of advance notice. Perhaps most importantly, they are fundamentally unfair and anti-competitive, because only larger establishments with both space and resources to build them can afford to do so, thus creating a fundamentally unlevel economic playing field.

The CRFA's reference to the use of these rooms in Nova Scotia and British Columbia is incomplete.

In British Columbia, they were required by a political, rather than scientific, decision of the Campbell government, which overrode the Workmen's Compensation Board on this health and safety issue for the first time since the board's founding in the early 1900s.

Michael Perley
Director
Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco