Yukon NDP to propose smoking ban in public places

Yukon NDP Leader Todd Hardy says his party will call for something every other province and territory has — a law restricting smoking in public places.

In his first announcement since returning to the Yukon from chemotherapy treatment for leukemia, Hardy said he will introduce a private member's bill on the issue in early May. The Yukon legislature is slated to resume sitting Thursday.

"Every Canadian province and territory now has some kind of legislation to prohibit smoking in designated areas, and I say every province and territory but one," Hardy told reporters Wednesday. "The last holdout is the Yukon Territory."

The territorial government leaves the responsibility to municipalities for regulating smoking. Whitehorse bans smoking in public places except for certain bars and separate, ventilated smoking rooms.

Hardy said it is time for the Yukon to pass a territory-wide ban on smoking in public places, adding that nearly 30 per cent of Yukoners smoke, while one in 10 teenagers are smokers.

"Let me ask you this very simply: Why is it acceptable for a Yukon worker to have less protection from the effects of cigarette smoke than any other Canadian worker?" he said.

"Why is it acceptable for Yukon children or seniors to have less protection from tobacco smoke than children or seniors anywhere else in Canada? Why is it acceptable for any Yukoners to be exposed unnecessarily to the effects of a habit that kills 45,000 Canadians every year?"

Joining Hardy at Wednesday's announcement was Mount Lorne NDP MLA Steve Cardiff, a smoker.

"We want to keep him alive," Hardy said with a chuckle.

Paula Bilton, president of the Yukon Registered Nurses Association, said her group is worried about the number of young parents who smoke.

"At $10 a pack, they can't afford to buy formula for their babies, and what do they buy? They buy cigarettes and two per cent milk or powdered milk," she said. "That's unacceptable."