By Wendy Elliott

The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com

The Town of Wolfville gave first reading Oct. 15 to a new bylaw that would prohibit smoking in vehicles with children present.

Moving forward on the bylaw could once again put the town ahead of all other Nova Scotia municipal units in dealing with this aspect of second hand smoke.

Smoke-Free Kings, which was established in 1994, has been assisting council to further this new bylaw just as it did the initial one. Lila Hope-Simpson, the organization’s spokesperson, said she’d just been to a smoking prohibition conference in Edmonton and “this is the next step. Everyone is watching. You won’t be alone. You may be the first, but you won’t be the last.”

Wolfville already demonstrated its leadership in the area of health promotion being the first municipality in the province to adopt a by-law prohibiting smoking in indoor public places.

Town CAO Roy Brideau says laws prohibiting smoking in vehicles while children are present exist in a number of states across the United States, Australia, and the Caribbean. In Canada, Ontario has made similar recommendations for legislation.

“It is our hope that the province will move forward with provincial legislation once again upon seeing the success of municipal bylaws in action,” he said.

The town plans to share and promote research and by-law information with other municipalities as they request it.

Deputy Mayor Bob Wrye called for an initial six-month education program before the bylaw goes into effect around June 1.

Funds will be budgeted on an annual basis to support the promotion and the establishment of education programs, the CAO noted, that will highlight the benefits of a smoke free environment.

While common sense should be enough to prevent smoking with children present in cars, it is clear that for many adults, this is not the case, Brideau noted. According to Statistics Canada data, one in five children under the age of 12 are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars.

The Wolfville bylaw, when it goes into effect, could result in fines of $200 to $250.

Resident Christine Lynch asked if people talking on cell phones while driving through town wasn’t more of a problem and another resident David Daniels also questioned the extent of the problem in Wolfville.