Quebec terraces will be smoke-free starting this week

Smoking on Quebec's terraces will be history as of Thursday.

The government is tightening its smoking laws and it's not just terraces slated to become smoke-free.

The new measures take aim at second hand smoke, especially in the presence of young people.

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• Quebec municipalities band together to support anti-smoking law

Under the new rules, smoking will be prohibited in the following places:

• On commercial terraces, including bars and restaurants.
• In cars, where someone under the age of 16 is present.
• In the common areas of residential buildings of two to five housing units.
• Near playgrounds, campgrounds and sports fields.
• And as always, near daycares, preschools, elementary schools and high schools.

Fines for smoking in a prohibited place now range from $250 to $750 for first-time offenders and $500 to $1,500 for repeat offenders.

Dangers of second-hand smoke

The act was passed last November with new measures coming into effect every few months until Nov. 2017.

• MAP Smoking laws across Canada
• Harmful levels of second-hand smoke found on Montreal patios

The stricter anti-smoking measures come on the heels of Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard saying last year that the reduction of smoking rates in the province plateaued in 2007.

"I think we must make further progress, and one way to do that is to act on second-hand smoke — exposure of people to smoke, especially children," Couillard said.

James Repace, a consultant who submitted a report to the Quebec committee on the issue in September 2015, has said the effects of second-hand smoke from one cigarette can be felt from up to 13 metres away.

Smoking on its way out

Quebec banned smoking in public places like offices, restaurants, cafés and bars in May 2006.

Currently, there is a nine-metre smoke-free radius around doors at social service institutions like hospitals and schools. But this November, smoking within nine metres of any opening door or window, on private or public property, will be banned.

Preceding the smoking ban on bar terraces, some establishments in Montreal laid out their own stricter rules.

McGill University, for instance, has already made large sections of its terraces smoke-free.