No town more deserving

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

“No town in Canada has shown more health leadership more consistently than Wolfville. No town could be more deserving of the Award for Courage in Public,” said Maureen Summers, executive director of the Canadian Cancer Society-Nova Scotia Division, last week.

The Canadian Cancer Society-National Cancer Institute of Canada Award for Courage in Public Policy has in the past gone to Prime Ministers and Ministers of Health who have broken new ground in healthy public policy. Summers said Wolfville has the honour of being the first municipality to win this award.

“We call it the ‘Award for Courage in Public Policy’ because it takes courage to be a leader. In public life, it’s often easier to be cautious and follow the crowd. That’s not Wolfville,” Summers said.

By becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to prohibit smoking in cars with children and youth, she added, “Mayor Bob Stead and the entire town council showed courage and determination to protect health that is second to none. Second-hand smoke in vehicles is even more harmful than in an enclosed building because the concentration of smoke in the air builds up so fast. Children are not able to protect themselves from this danger.”

Who would have imagined how quickly this issue would take all of Canada by storm? Summers asked. “Within weeks of Wolfville passing its bylaw, the Nova Scotia legislature had unanimously passed a bill to extend the protection province-wide. I, for one, will never forget the standing ovation that your mayor and council members received from the Premier, the MLAs, and those of us in the gallery that day.”

Similar laws have been passed

Just 10 months later, similar laws have been passed in Ontario, British Columbia, the Yukon and the town of Okotoks, Alberta. The governments of Prince Edward Island and Manitoba have announced their intention to move ahead with similar legislation.

“Clearly, Wolfville’s leadership raised awareness and opened the floodgates,” Summers said.

She added that Wolfville was also the first town in Nova Scotia to pass a bylaw to make indoor public places smoke-free. “That, too, eventually became a province-wide policy. And your town council isn’t resting on its laurels, either. Now they’re taking on another known cancer risk; chemical pesticides.”

Deputy Mayor Bob Wrye couldn’t be at the award presentation because he was in Yarmouth chairing an executive meeting of the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities. Under Wolfville’s leadership, the UNSM has been calling on the province to reform the Municipal Government Act to allow municipalities to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.

Summers stated, “the Canadian Cancer Society is proud to be working with Wolfville, the UNSM and the Pesticide-Free Nova Scotia coalition to urge the provincial government to action on this issue.”

She thanked the councillors present and MLA David Morse, “who helped make sure that the provincial legislature quickly and unanimously followed Wolfville’s leadership.” Duff Montgomerie, deputy minister of Health Promotion and Protection, was also on hand along with Doug Hergett, chair of Smoke-Free Kings, and a number of cancer society volunteers from the community.