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Letters January 16, 2004
To: The Ottawa Citizen
The tobacco industry should be compensating the millions of customers
and innocent bystanders who have suffered agonizing deaths as a
result of smoking cigarettes and involuntarily inhaling toxic
second-hand smoke.
The health-care community in Ontario has begged for provincewide
smoke-free legislation for years, knowing that it will save the
health budget billions of dollars and prevent needless suffering and
premature deaths. Kudos to Premier Dalton McGuinty for making a top
priority that all public and work places in Ontario be 100-per-cent
smoke-free within three years. Non-smokers and smokers alike love
smoke-free Ottawa restaurants, bars and workplaces.
The Pub and Bar Coalition of Ontario was up to its beer barrels in
lawsuits against the City of Ottawa over its smoke-free bylaw and
lost them all. On the ubiquitous list of What's Hot and What's Not
for 2004, I would add that smoke-free bylaws are in, while the PUBCOs
of this world are out.
Carmela Graziani |
