Butt out behind the wheel

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register



Wolfville's seven-member council unanimously passed one of the toughest anti-smoking bylaws in North America Monday evening, Nov. 19.

The town is the first municipality in Canada to ban smoking in vehicles when a child under the age of 18 is present.

Mayor Bob Stead calls the new regulation a follow-up to Wolfville's 2001 stand on smoke-free indoor public places, another first for the town.

Councillors said they view the new bylaw as a health and safety measure to protect children from the effects of second-hand smoke.

For the next six months education will be the focus of the bylaw, in effect next June.

While some residents, such as Christine Lynch, question whether people talking on cell phones while driving through town isn’t more of a problem; various groups, including Smoke-Free Kings, Annapolis Valley Health and the Canadian Cancer Association; publicly support the town's move.

Smoke-Free Kings, established in 1994, sees the new bylaw as the way of the future. Lila Hope-Simpson, the organization’s spokeswoman, said she had 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.”

Laws prohibiting smoking in vehicles while children are present exist in a number of U.S. states, Australia and the Caribbean. In Canada, Ontario has made similar recommendations for legislation.

Wolfville plans to share and promote research and by-law information with other municipalities as they request it. Funds will be budgeted on an annual basis to support the promotion and the establishment of education programs, the chief administrative officer noted, that will highlight the benefits of a smoke-free environment.

The Wolfville bylaw could result in fines of $200 to $250.

According to Statistics Canada data, one in five children under the age of 12 are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars.