Quebec toughens anti-tobacco legislation, targets vaping
May 5, 2015
AARON DERFEL, MONTREAL GAZETTE
Montreal’s director of public health and anti-tobacco groups are praising the Quebec government for tabling a proposed law Tuesday that would impose the same limits on vaping as on smoking in public spaces, as well as banning scented and flavoured tobacco products.
But both Dr. Richard Massé and the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac argued that Bill 44 does not go far enough in requiring that tobacco manufacturers use plain packaging for their products rather than the brightly coloured boxes that in some cases are designed to look like smartphones.
Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois said the goals of Bill 44 are to prevent Quebec youth from taking up vaping and smoking, protecting non-smokers from second-hand smoke and motivating smokers to quit the habit.
“Every year in Quebec, at least 10,000 people die from illnesses associated with tobacco use,? Charlebois said. “The bill we are tabling today proposes ambitious measures that would allow Quebec to regain its place as a leader in the fight against tobacco use.?
Bill 44 expands upon existing tobacco-control legislation adopted in 2005 which prohibited smoking in bars, restaurants and other public spaces. The new provisions would ban smoking in vehicles in which minors younger than 16 are present; in common areas in buildings of two to five apartments; and outdoors on bar or restaurant terrasses.
What’s more, the use of electronic cigarettes – or battery-powered vapourizers which produce a similar sensation to smoking – would be banned in public spaces.
“We’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time,? Massé told the Montreal Gazette. “There are a number of things that we’re happy about. Banning the use of flavoured tobacco products is very positive and something we’ve wanted for a long time – prohibiting the sale of menthol cigarettes, the fruit- and candy- and chocolate-flavoured tobacco products that are very attractive to young people.?
Although the purported benefits of vaping are still uncertain, Massé lauded the Couillard government for following the “precautionary principle? in banning the use of e-cigarettes in indoor public spaces.
“We don’t think the risks are the same as smoking, but introducing e-cigarettes in the tobacco law, associating vaping with smoking, is truly a good thing,? he added.
Geneviève Bois, a medical doctor and spokesperson for the Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac, said she’s “really pleased? with “all the good stuff? in Bill 44. She added that she was heartened that e-cigarettes “were brought into the tobacco act,? but not banned for adults because “it seems (they) can be of use for some adults in terms of cessation.?
“The only thing missing from the law is a measure regarding packaging, making sure that there is plain packaging,? Bois said. “That’s the only measure that is not addressed. We hope that is something that could be addressed better through the parliamentary process.?
Massé agreed that Quebec should follow Australia’s lead in requiring that tobacco manufacturers sell their products in logo- and imagery-free packages in addition to posting warnings like “cigarettes cause lung cancer.?
Suzanne Dubois, executive director of the Quebec division of the Canadian Cancer Society, commended Charlebois’s “courage in putting an end to the sad strategies of the tobacco industry,? particularly the marketing of e-cigarettes and flavoured tobacco products like menthol cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars and waterpipe tobacco.
“Even today, too many children and adolescents take up smoking, on average at the age of 13,? Dubois said, calling for the adoption of the bill before summer.
Officials with Montreal-based Imperial Tobacco Canada were not available for comment Tuesday.
Montreal bar owner Peter Sergakis, president of the Union des tenanciers des bars du Québec, denounced in an interview with Radio-Canada what he called the “hypocrisy? of the government in proceeding with “sporadic? prohibitions of smoking rather than completely banning the sale of all tobacco products.
Sergakis added that for someone sitting outside on a terrasse, cigarette smoke is no less harmful than the pollution spewed from nearby cars and trucks.
Some other measures of Bill 44 include: requiring that hospitals identify rooms where the use of medical marijuana is permitted; compelling the minister to submit a report on the law to the National Assembly every five years; and increasing fines for disobeying the law.
In Montreal, up to 19 per cent of the adult population smokes, although the prevalence is as high as 25 per cent in some neighbourhoods like the Sud-Ouest and Jeanne-Mance, Massé noted.
It’s estimated that there are 1.5 million smokers in Quebec. A Statistics Canada survey found that in 2013, 21.4 per cent of the Quebec population over the age of 12 smoked, the third highest provincial rate after Saskatchewan (22.8 per cent) and New Brunswick (21.8 per cent).
Bar owners plan to fight Quebec’s proposed ban on smoking, vaping
May 3, 2015
BY GEOFFREY VENDEVILLE, MONTREAL GAZETTE
Quebec bar owners say they are preparing to challenge the province’s plan to ban smoking on bar and restaurant patios.
After the province banned smoking inside restaurants and bars in 2006, they lost 17 percent of their business and haven’t recovered since, said Renaud Poulin, the president of Quebec’s largest bar owners’ association.
If it becomes illegal to light up on terrasses, clients will be forced onto the sidewalk and bars will be deluged with noise complaints, he added.
“It’s nice to say we’re going to ban smoking, but where are we going to put these people? On the sidewalk? It’s going to cause us a heck of a lot of trouble with the neighbours.”
He suggested that the danger to public health posed by second-hand smoke on patios is exaggerated. “On the health level, I don’t want go too much into detail right now, but we did research and there are specialists who say that second-hand smoke outside buildings is crying wolf for nothing, to scare people,” he said.
The Union des tenanciers des bars du Québec, a breakaway group of 800 bar owners, said it, too, plans to fight the legislation. Peter Sergakis, the union’s president, said the proposed law would be “catastrophic” for the industry.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Sergakis has fought Quebec’s anti-smoking legislation or clashed with Philippe Couillard.
Nine years ago, Sergakis tried unsuccessfully overturn the ban on smoking inside bars and restaurants introduced by Couillard while he was health minister.
Sergakis said he plans to commission a study showing that pollution caused by street traffic is more dangerous for one’s health than inhaling smoke on a terrasse.
“I don’t think it’s been proven that second-hand smoking on the terrasse is bad for your health,” he told the Montreal Gazette.
On Thursday, Couillard told reporters at the National Assembly he wanted to curb smoking, particularly second-hand smoke. Each year, more than 800 non-smokers died of second-hand smoke in Canada, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
“We managed to lower our smoking rates in 2005, 2006, 2007, and since that time it reached a plateau,” Couillard said. In 2011, the latest data available on the health ministry’s website, 19 per cent of Quebecers above 15-years-old smoked and 14 per cent of them lit up every day.
Quebec plans to unveil the tougher anti-smoking rules next week, a government aide said.
In addition to banning smoking on bar and restaurant patios, the proposed law would also prohibit smoking in cars in the presence of a child, subject e-cigarettes to the same restrictions as traditional tobacco, and ban all flavoured cigarettes, including menthols, Radio-Canada reported.
Ontario reinforced its own anti-smoking laws in November, banning all flavoured tobacco and making it illegal for anyone under 19 to buy e-cigarettes.
Geneviève Bois, a spokesperson for the Quebec Coalition for the Control of Tobacco, said stricter regulations are long overdue in Quebec.
“In all provinces except Quebec, it’s already illegal to smoke in cars with children on board,” she said. “It’s a little shameful. Even the Yukon passed a law last summer, so it’s really just Quebec.”
The anti-smoking coalition supports a ban on flavoured tobacco, which is popular among young smokers. They are calling on Quebec to go even further by introducing “neutral” cigarette packaging of the same shape and colours.
“Currently, tobacco packages are like billboards in themselves,” she said. “The shape was carefully designed to be very appealing. The way the box opens, the colours, the finish – it’s all very attractive, very pretty. They resemble cellphone or lipstick cases.”
