Article content continued

The Making Healthier Choices Act passed with the near widespread support of the three parties in a 99-1 vote. Conservative MPP Randy Hillier acted as the sole opposition.

The legislation prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 19, makes their use in non-smoking areas illegal and forbids vendors from advertising or promoting their sale.

“It’s very clear that these things are the greatest harm-reduction devices that have been created to reduce the harm of tobacco,” a disappointed Hillier said in an interview after the vote. “For the government to be a barrier and impediment, I find tragic and devastating.”

Continue reading…

[/np_storybar]

Ontario recently passed Bill 45, the (Forcing You Into) Making Healthier Choices Act, with all-party support. Only by discouraging the sale and use of e-cigarettes by subjecting them to many of the same restrictions as tobacco products, the legislation will make it harder for smokers the break the habit and switch to a healthier alternative. At the same time, bylaw staff in Calgary are urging city council to ban vaping anywhere smoking is not allowed — regulations that could come into effect as early as July.

Yet, in both cases, no one seems to be able to articulate why the new restrictions are necessary.

Ontario NDP health critic France Gelinas acknowledges there is scant evidence that e-cigarettes pose any danger to public health, but worries that “bringing e-cigarettes into bars and restaurants re-normalizes smoking.” As one busybody told the Calgary Herald, “Five-year-olds think the Muppets are real. You can’t expect a five-year-old to distinguish between a cigarette and an e-cigarette.” Yet if we went by that standard, we’d have to ban swearing and bikinis outdoors, because god forbid a parent would have to use displays of adult behaviour in public as an opportunity to teach their children about what’s acceptable.