N.S. smokers face stiff fines as controversial ban in cars takes effect

Alison Auld, THE CANADIAN PRESS
HALIFAX - Smokers who light up in cars with kids on board could face stiff fines in Nova Scotia on Tuesday when the province becomes the first in the country to introduce a ban on the practice.

The unique legislation takes effect as several other jurisdictions consider similar restrictions in vehicles carrying children and youths under the age of 19, raising the ire of smokers' rights groups who say this is merely the first step to outlaw smoking around children in private homes.

"This ban in cars with kids is just a stepping stone for our houses," Arminda Mota, president of Mychoice.ca, a group funded by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council, said from Montreal.

"This has nothing to do with cutting smoking rates. All they want is to criminalize smokers and go into the homes."

Legislators in Canada and other countries where bans have been introduced dismiss the claim, saying the prohibition is intended to educate people about the harmful effects of exposing children to the toxic fumes in enclosed spaces.

Barry Barnet, Nova Scotia's health promotion minister, said the province is not looking at enforcing such a ban in private homes, but didn't entirely shut the door on it.

"I think there is a line where we can't cross, where people have personal rights and choices," he said. "I believe that the strategy will look at the next best steps, but we're not there yet."

He added that the province will give people time to adjust to the new rules before police start handing out fines of $394.50 - the cost each time someone is caught smoking with a passenger under the age of 19.

Some smokers doubted whether the penalty would stop people from lighting up in their vehicles and that police likely wouldn't enforce the legislation.

"You're not supposed to smoke within so many metres of a building, but people still do and I've never seen people get fined for that," 20-year-old Lynn Robicheau said through a plume of smoke outside an office building in Halifax.

"I think if it's your car, you should be able to smoke."

Tiffany Hearns, 28, criticized the law for making it an offence for 18-year-olds to smoke inside a car, but not when they step outside it.

"There's no logic in that," she said on a smoke break from work. "Either they ban it for kids altogether under 18 or they remove it. It's stupid."

Nova Scotia may be the first, but several other provinces, including British Columbia, Ontario and P.E.I, are pledging to penalize people for puffing in their cars with kids.

New Brunswick is considering legislation, while Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador are watching how other provinces proceed.

Margarett Best, Ontario's minister of health promotion, said her government expected to move ahead with similar legislation early this spring and will look at fines of between $200 to $1,000.

The move comes after a Liberal backbencher introduced a private member's bill that was not initially supported by Premier Dalton McGuinty because he feared it infringed on individual rights.

Best said he changed his mind after surveys revealed growing public support for the measure.

But she said any regulations would stop short of intruding into people's homes in Ontario, which has about 1.7 million smokers over the age of 15.

"We are not looking into preventing smoking in homes generally," she said in an interview. "We are just going to ban smoking in cars and it will serve as an educational tool and raise the awareness of parents."

The Yukon government has also indicated it would draft new legislation on a smoking ban, but it was the small rural community of Wolfville, N.S., that sparked the national momentum to snuff out smoking in cars.

Wolfville introduced a bylaw last year that's set to come into force in June. The mayor has said the town would be happy to set it aside and go with the provincial legislation.

Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society praised the community's initiative, saying it was only a matter of time before all provinces and territories outlawed the practice in vehicles.

"There is unstoppable momentum on the issue of banning smoking in cars with kids in Canada," he said. "It is absolutely amazing how quickly this issue has taken off."

Cunningham said it was only in 2006 that jurisdictions began implementing similar bans, which are now in effect in California, Arkansas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico, along with states in Australia.

Mota, whose group has about 46,000 members, said she doesn't condone smoking around children in cars, but would rather see more educational programs about the effects of smoking.

Anti-smoking officials say second-hand smoke is 27 per cent more toxic in the enclosed space of a vehicle than in a home, and children are more susceptible to its harmful effects, such as chronic ear infections, asthma and other respiratory conditions.

© The Canadian Press, 2008