The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
At last week's regular meeting of Flin Flon City Council, the City received a letter from Jim Rondeau, Manitoba's Minister of Healthy Living. The letter outlined the upcoming provincial smoking ban in public places. The letter read, in part, as follows: " On Tuesday, March 2, 2004, I was pleased to introduce Bill 21, The Non-Smokers Health Protection Act - Various Acts Amended (The Act), in the Manitoba Legislature. The Act will make Manitoba the first province in Canada to have a province-wide smoking ban. The Act follows the recommendations signed by representatives of all three political parties who formed the All-Party Task Force on Environmental Tobacco Smoke. The Task Force recommendations were developed based on broad public consultation. As recommended by the Task Force, The Act will put into place a province-wide smoking ban in all enclosed public places and indoor workplaces where the Province has clear jurisdiction. This will take effect on October 1, 2004. The Act does not allow designated smoking rooms in indoor workplaces or enclosed public places except in a defined group of facilities which include personal care homes, residential shelters, and treatment centres. The Act will not apply to outdoor eating and drinking areas, but will enable parameters to be set by regulation respecting when an outdoor eating and drinking area becomes 'enclosed'. The goal of this legislation is to protect the general public and the workers of Manitoba from second-hand smoke. Smoking is a major cause of disease and it is estimated that 48,000 Canadian deaths can be attributed to smoking each year. Risk of exposure to deadly second-hand smoke should not be a price that Manitobans have to pay. As the ban will only apply to areas where the Province has clear jurisdiction, it will not apply to federal penitentiaries; federally regulated airports; Canadian Forces bases; or any other place or premises occupied by a federal work, undertaking or business. The ban will also not apply to lands set apart as reserves for First Nations. I have written to my federal counterparts to recommend that they work to implement similar measures in those enclosed public places and indoor workplaces where the Federal Government has clear jurisdiction. This legislation will set the minimum standards in relation to environmental tobacco smoke."
