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Permit required to walk in the park, Fines given out for swearing. Welcome to Toronto (pg. 3)
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| Endlesswave |
http://www.healthzone.ca/health/new...-and-apartments
Smoking ban urged for Peel condos and apartments
October 19, 2009
Madeleine White
STAFF REPORTER
Related
Map: Ontario smoking rates
Peel's top public health officials are lobbying to ban smoking from apartments and condos in an effort to limit second-hand smoke inhalation.
If their push is successful, apartment dwellers would not be able to smoke in their own homes.
The region's council is going to examine a report co-authored by Commissioner of Health Services Janette Smith, and Dr. David Mowat, Peel's medical officer of health.
Their report says that Peel Public Health has received complaints from apartment tenants about smoke seeping into their homes.
"Tobacco smoke can seep from various openings in a multi-unit dwelling, including electrical outlets, plumbing, ductwork, ceiling light fixtures, cracks in wall, floors or doors and through common areas, such as hallways," wrote Smith and Mowat in the report. "Some units may share ventilation or heating systems, which can further spread the smoke throughout a building."
Their findings prompted an investigation into whether the city has the authority to ban smoking inside apartments.
Under the Municipal Act of 2001, Peel can invoke a bylaw preventing tenants from smoking, but Smith and Mowat suggest the best route would be to persuade Queen's Park to enact a province-wide ban.
The province's current ban on smoking applies only to enclosed public spaces, as well as elevators and hallways in apartment buildings. But it does not stop people from smoking in their homes.
"I don't actually think that we need to be asking the province because I think it's already happening," said Pippa Beck, a policy analyst for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association. "We have market forces on our side, landlords are recognizing the financial benefits, which are not insignificant, and there is more and more demand for smoke-free living."
Beck noted several municipalities in Ontario, including Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton, are taking steps to ban smoking in residences.
This month, councillors in Kitchener-Waterloo decided, starting in April, new tenants in apartments owned by Waterloo Region would not be allowed to smoke at home.
The region had been receiving an average of five calls a month from tenants complaining about second-hand smoke seeping into their dwellings from other units and open windows. Those calls represented about 20 per cent of all tobacco-related complaints received by the region, according to a regional report.
In Peel, individual landlords of apartments are also choosing to make their buildings smoke-free.
In July 2006, a smoke-free 53-unit housing complex opened on Cummer Ave. in North York. In 2008, the owner said one tenant had left because of the policy.
Peel's council votes Thursday on whether to approach the province about the recommendations. |
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| Jayx1 |
I wish i could say im shocked... Im not.
Disgusted yes, but what do you expect? This is what selfishness gets you. A society that is intolerant of their neighbours.
And the government sees another golden opportunity to take more power and make more money. |
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| kaniz |
really, why not just make smoking illegal and be done with it already?
Banning doing something that is perfectly legal within your own home? please - that is just ludicrous.
They want to ban smoking just about everywhere - yet still want to collect the tax revenue they get from selling cigarettes?
If they were truly serious about wanting to eliminate smoking, then or get off the pot and make it illegal already (not that I'd really agree with that actually).
I'm a non-smoker, but smoking does not bother me that much unless it's something excessively stupid like 10 people chain-smoking inside with the windows closed.
People need to learn to be more tolerant of others. Is the amount of smoke coming in through walls really that horribly bad? |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by kaniz
really, why not just make smoking illegal and be done with it already?
Banning doing something that is perfectly legal within your own home? please - that is just ludicrous.
They want to ban smoking just about everywhere - yet still want to collect the tax revenue they get from selling cigarettes?
If they were truly serious about wanting to eliminate smoking, then or get off the pot and make it illegal already (not that I'd really agree with that actually).
I'm a non-smoker, but smoking does not bother me that much unless it's something excessively stupid like 10 people chain-smoking inside with the windows closed.
People need to learn to be more tolerant of others. Is the amount of smoke coming in through walls really that horribly bad? |
+1. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by kaniz
really, why not just make smoking illegal and be done with it already? |
we know why... loss of taxes and giving the underworld a new economy.
| quote: |
Banning doing something that is perfectly legal within your own home? please - that is just ludicrous. |
Agreed but we keep letting them do it. And a large part of society encourages it.
| quote: | They want to ban smoking just about everywhere - yet still want to collect the tax revenue they get from selling cigarettes?
If they were truly serious about wanting to eliminate smoking, then or get off the pot and make it illegal already (not that I'd really agree with that actually). |
Again we all know why they wont.
| quote: | I'm a non-smoker, but smoking does not bother me that much unless it's something excessively stupid like 10 people chain-smoking inside with the windows closed.
People need to learn to be more tolerant of others. Is the amount of smoke coming in through walls really that horribly bad? |
I agree, im a non smoker myself. Let me add that i am tolerant of smokers in many settings as i would want them to be tolerant of things that i may or may not do that might have an impact on them. Thats how living in a society is supposed to work. |
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| Cro_Addict |
This sounds ridiculous. So you won't be allowed to smoke in a home that you purchased?
hahaaha WOW! |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cro_Addict
This sounds ridiculous. So you won't be allowed to smoke in a home that you purchased?
hahaaha WOW! |
I know. Just talked to a buddy of mine who's from Romania who came here years ago, he says there are some apartment complexes in Europe that are like that as well. If you smoke on the balcony and it bugs the neighbour nextdoor they can call the cops. Wtf. (In Europe too jeez) |
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by kaniz
People need to learn to be more tolerant of others. Is the amount of smoke coming in through walls really that horribly bad? |
why should I be tolerate of lazy asses who cannot move 5 meters and go smoke on their balcony? why do I have to tolerate horrible pot and cig smell coming into my apartment through our vents? our hallway closet with all our winter coats needs to be aired our and fabreezed once a week thanks to a jackass near us
and I'm an occasional smoker too - I will NEVER smoke inside our apartment.. balcony only, or if it's nice out - in the nearby parkette |
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| Cro_Addict |
| quote: | Originally posted by FunkyCrew
why should I be tolerate of lazy asses who cannot move 5 meters and go smoke on their balcony? why do I have to tolerate horrible pot and cig smell coming into my apartment through our vents? our hallway closet with all our winter coats needs to be aired our and fabreezed once a week thanks to a jackass near us
and I'm an occasional smoker too - I will NEVER smoke inside our apartment.. balcony only, or if it's nice out - in the nearby parkette |
But you see no problem with this law?
So the government should be allowed to tell you what to do in your own house? If it is legal, I should be able to do whatever I want.
Personally I would never smoke in my own house, but I want to have that choice. |
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| kaniz |
Not everyone has access to a balcony, and smoking out the window only does some good in terms of cutting down the smell. You also end up with people arguing that smoking on the balcony can still seep into the apartments around them if they have open windows.
This just seems to start an awfully slippery slope once you start limiting what legal activities you can and can-not do inside of your home.
What next, no cooking indian food because your neighbor hates the smell of curry? |
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| Endlesswave |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cro_Addict
But you see no problem with this law?
So the government should be allowed to tell you what to do in your own house? If it is legal, I should be able to do whatever I want.
Personally I would never smoke in my own house, but I want to have that choice. |
Exactly.
Also, even if you do it on your balcony Kris it only takes some idiot to say 'It annoys me, I can smell the smoke because it drifts over next door to my own balcony' and you wouldn't even be able to do that. You'd have to walk downstairs and smoke completely outside. What if you lived on the penthouse/top floor. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
Apartments are one thing.....as you only pay rent and if the owner of the building wants to make it a smoke free building then I don't see a problem with that provided new rental contracts are written up.
As for condos...if I bought it then no one has a right to say I can't smoke in it.
As for non-smokers...if you don't like it....ing move. Why should the smokers have to stop when there is nothing illegal about it. If you don't like the environment you are in you remove yourself from that environment.
As for the government having a say.... the government right in the ass. |
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