by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
December 21, 2004
Those were the words of Ontario Minister of Health George Smitherman after the introduction of the Smoke Free Ontario act. Set to take effect in May 2006, the act is billed as the toughest anti-smoking legislation in North america banning the activity in all public places including legion halls, designated smoking rooms that were constructed by restaurant and bar owners at great expense, and enclosed outdoor patios. But the Health Minister in one of the most incompetent and intrusive governments in memory, is graciously allowing lowly Ontarians to lawfully smoke in your own home. Thank you, Georgie, thank you.
In the legislation stores that sell cigarettes, mainly small convenience stores that are owned by immigrants, will not be allowed to publicly display cigarettes; they must be hidden below the counter or in a cabinet where they cannot be seen by any children or other "vulnerable" people who might see a cigarette package and not be able to overcome the urge to puff. Keeping the cigarettes will of course cost the store owners a great deal of money but when it comes to intruding into peoples’ lives, the government will spare no expense. The expense that they do not spare is of course borne by others. as the price of cigarettes climbs (and the new legislation of course includes a tax hike), cigarettes will become more valuable to thieves and robbers. By keeping them hidden away robberies will likely become more violent but who cares; the crime rates are going down and that’s all that you have to know. Besides immigrants are easy to pick on and those who come to Canada to work 16 hours a day behind the counter in a convenience store aren’t really important. Taking away free choice and rights is important.
The Ontario Liberals are pro-choice when it comes to abortion and anti-choice about everything else. The Smoke Free Ontario act is the latest in a long line of legislative ideas including the banning of pit bulls, the banning of junk food in schools, the mandatory wearing of bicycle helmets by adults and the aborted ban on unfrozen sushi. This government doesn’t care about people and their rights because Dalton McGuinty and his boys and girls don’t care about people. If they did, they would occasionally tell the truth and would not rationalize their lies and broken promises by condescendingly stating that "it was the right thing to do". People don’t matter; only their lofty ideals of what society should be like matter.
The reasons that the Liberals are so gung-ho on banning and regulating the lives of Ontarians is that it takes attention away from the real problems that the provinces face. Health Minister Smitherman is able to get applause from the anti-cigarette lobby while ignoring his bullying of doctors and the fact that the province has done nothing to reduce hospital waiting times or to correct the shortage of doctors that will only get worse as more and more in the medical profession reach retirement age.
The restrictions on the rights and freedoms of Ontarians will continue. Smitherman’s statement that people are still allowed to partake in smoking, a legal activity, in their homes is scary. Smitherman is in effect saying that people are allowed to smoke in their own homes because his government has not yet decided to prohibit it.
Writing about bicycle helmets in the Western Standard, columnist Mark Steyn wrote that more people receive head injuries falling out of bed than from riding bicycles. What we certainly do not need are people like Steyn giving this government more ideas. What passes as humour to Steyn and his readers may in fact become tomorrow’s legislation at the hands of the McGuinty government.
The next move that the provincial government will undoubtedly make will be to threaten intervention in homes where children are exposed to smoke. It is not inconceivable that before the magic date of October 4, 2007 is reached, smoking will be banned in private homes.