Ontario just got healthier.

MPPs from all three parties voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to pass the Making Healthier Choices Act, banning flavoured tobacco, limiting e-cigarettes, and forcing fast-food chains to put calorie counts on their menus.

Associate Health Minister Dipika Damerla said the legislation, which passed by a vote of 100-1, will “lower smoking rates and fight obesity.”

But amid concerns over the curbs on e-cigarettes, which some health activists believe are helpful in smoking cessation efforts, Damerla stressed the government is not outlawing “vaping.”

“We’re not banning electronic cigarettes, we’re simply regulating them,” she said, noting the sale of e-cigarettes to those 19 and under will be prohibited.

At the same time, it will be illegal to use e-cigarettes in non-smoking areas and to promote or display them for sale.

But Damerla said she’s “leaving the door open” to them as a smoke-cessation product like nicotine patches if further research proves they are effective.

“We can’t have it promoted as a cool product,” she said, emphasizing the government doesn’t want teens starting to vape.

All flavoured tobacco products will be forbidden with menthol being given a two-year reprieve.

NDP MPP France Gelinas (Nickel Belt), who has pushed the moves for seven years, said the new law “will save lives” in Ontario.

But Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington), the lone dissenter, expressed concern that the vaping measures might actually have the opposite effect.

“Countless studies by the world’s top anti-smoking researchers have shown time and time again that vaporizers are proving to be the most effective smoking cessation device ever created,” said Hillier, who credits the e-cigarette with helping him go from two packs of cigarettes a day to less than one.

“I’ve tried everything … gum, patches and every other device known to man and they have not been as effective,” he said.

Tuesday’s legislation will also require restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores selling prepared food at 20 or more locations in Ontario to post the calories for all food and beverages, including alcohol on menus.

Mark Holland, Ontario executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said that will “empower people” to make more informed choices when ordering their meals.

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“We are making progress to help Ontarians live healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke,” he said.

What happened to the restaurants that put calorie counts on menus?