TORONTO

Council voted Monday to treat e-cigarettes like real cigarettes in city workplaces.

With no debate, council voted 36 to 2 to prohibit e-cigarette use in City of Toronto workplaces and “recommend the same” to the city’s agencies and corporations.

Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Josh Matlow both voted against the prohibition.

Council also asked city staff to “explore” the environmentally sound disposal of e-cigs and batteries.

Toronto Public Health confirmed the council vote will spark a workplace policy banning vaping in city workplaces.

“This recommendation means creating a workplace policy that would prohibit e-cigarette use at city workplaces,” Public Health spokesman Kris Scheuer told the Toronto Sun. “The definition of workplace would be aligned with that contained in the current Smoke-Free Ontario Act legislation and workplace policy. The report also recommends city agencies and corporations do the same.”

Scheuer confirmed the prohibition won’t just apply to inside city buildings.

“Yes, this would include parks and Nathan Philips Square (city staff work there),” she said.

Board of Health chairman Joe Mihevc said the vote was a “slam dunk.”

“What a difference a generation makes,” Mihevc said, pointing out how easily the vaping debate went through council as a sign of how people’s perception around smoking and where smoking can occur has changed.

“If you smoke or if you vape, that is something done in the privacy of your home or in an open area … it is now so accepted as a cultural norm that nary a person debated it.”

Mihevc was optimistic council’s vote will encourage the province to act on the board of health’s recommendation to prohibit e-cigarette use except in areas where cigarette smoking can occur.

“This gives encouragement to the province to say, ‘Look, there will not be a public backlash,’” Mihevc said.

Matlow said he voted no because “the jury’s still out” on e-cigarettes.

“I still need to be convinced that the arguments for banning them, mostly based on hypothetical concerns, truly outweigh the anecdotal evidence that vapour can be helpful in many residents’ efforts to finally quit smoking cigarettes,” Matlow said.

Council coverage: Click here for a mobile-friendly link.