More Ottawa residents are being exposed to second-hand smoke in public places than in other Canadian cities, results from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey show.
The survey found that 19.8 per cent of respondents in Ottawa reported being exposed to second-hand smoke in public in the past month. In contrast, the Canadian average was 12.8 per cent.
“Typically because virtually all enclosed public places and work places are regulated, we are talking outdoor public places,” said Pippa Beck, policy analyst at the Ottawa office of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association.
“And typically highest reported exposures are around entrances to work places and public places, and patios, and people report exposures on sidewalks as well.”
See: A 2010 report on patio air quality in Ottawa
Smoking on sidewalks is largely not prohibited in Canada, so the focus is usually on other spaces that can be regulated. Ottawa banned smoking in outdoor patios in April 2012, but it is hard to tell how that affected the survey data as the survey was conducted through 2012 and gives a year’s average.
Several other cities in Ontario have passed bylaws prohibiting smoking on patios, like Kingston and Thunder Bay. Both places recorded exposure rates below the national average.
However, no province-wide framework exists in Ontario. Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador all have fully smoke-free patios under provincial legislation.
“Typically provincial legislation follows leadership at the local level,” Beck said. “So when our Smoke-Free Ontario Act came into place in 2006, that followed many years of many local municipalities passing bylaws.”
The law, passed in 2006, banned smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public places like restaurants and bars in Ontario. Since then, cities and towns have continued to pass bylaws further limiting public smoking.
Ottawa has banned smoking on municipal property, like playgrounds, parks and beaches.
Beck pointed out that the Ontario government implemented several new policies on smoking, like restricting smoking in cars with children under 16 present, passed laws dealing with contraband tobacco, and banned flavoured cigarillos – narrow flavoured cigars popular with young users.
“There has been a decent amount of activity at the provincial level on tobacco, and I think the Liberals are sort of sitting back and saying, ‘Okay, we’ve done tobacco, let’s look at something else,’” Beck said.
Listen: Pippa Beck speaks on CBC Radio about hookah smoking.
Beck’s organization is currently focusing on helping people exposed to second-hand smoke at home, with smoke wafting in from neighbouring units. Ottawa Community Housing is looking at banning smoking within its units, while certain developers are looking at smoke-free condominium buildings, like a Domicile building being constructed in Wellington West.
“There’s certainly more [the city] could do to educate and to encourage and facilitate policy development at the local level. They could also create incentives for developers to build smoke-free,” Beck said.