Winnipeg Free Press

Monday, August 02, 1999

Public smoking ban a hot button

By Linda Rosborough
Staff Reporter

If it's dangerous to talk about politics or religion in polite company, you might want to add public smoking to that list of taboo topics of conversation.

We're divided on the subject, according to a Winnipeg Free Press/Probe Research Inc. poll of 600 adult Winnipeggers, conducted last month.

A slim majority of adults - 51 per cent - said they would support a ban on smoking in public areas like shopping malls, restaurants and bars.

However, nearly as many - 47 per cent - expressed opposition to such a ban.

"It's not very often you see the public split like this," said pollster Scott MacKay. "Smoking really splits the public in half."

Respondents from across the city were asked: "There had been some discussion lately about banning smoking in all indoor public places in Winnipeg. Under this plan, smoking would not be permitted in public places such as restaurants, bars and lounges and malls. All things considered, do you support this type of smoking ban for Winnipeg?"

Support for such a ban was highest among women - 56 per cent, versus 46 per cent among men. Of those with university degrees, 67 per cent supported a ban, while respondents over the age of 55 were 59 per cent in favour of a crackdown on public smoking. Support for the ban was slightly higher in the south than in the city's north end.

Dr. Mark Taylor, chairman of the Manitoba Medical Association's public health issues committee, was shocked by the narrow margin of approval for a ban.

"That's extraordinarily surprising," he said. "That's very, very different from a survey we did about a year ago." That study pegged approval among Winnipeggers at about 70 per cent, he said. Taylor figures the Probe results would have been higher, had the question not mentioned bars. That's the one place where resistance to a smoking ban can linger.

"If you asked about restaurants alone, you might have got a much larger number," he said. "Across North America, the support for bans in restaurants is quite high." Although some restaurant and bar owners express concern about the potential economic impact of a ban, Taylor said cities like San Francisco, New York, Salt Lake City and Flagstaff, Ariz., have instituted smoking bans and studied the effect on business.

While some businesses might notice a short-term loss when the ban first begins, by the end of the first year, losses were negligible or non-existent, said Taylor.

Bob Stevens, president of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, could not be reached yesterday. However, Stevens said in June that local restaurants would not necessarily oppose a ban, as long as it also applied to public places like casinos and bowling alleys. He also said restaurants would need several years to prepare for such a ban.

A city council task force, chaired by Coun. Mark Lubosch (North Kildonan) is looking at a public smoking ban.

In Manitoba, about one in four men and one in five women smoke. The overall number of smokers is 22.1 per cent in Winnipeg, compared to 23.6 per cent across the province.

We're not the only ones grappling with this issue. Victoria's clean air bylaw, the toughest of Canada's major cities, bans smoking from all indoor places. A Vancouver bylaw bans smoking in restaurants, but continues to allow it in bars.

In Toronto, the city's medical officer of health recently issued a report, recommending a smoking ban in restaurants, bars, casinos, pool halls and other public places by 2004. Now, Toronto restaurants may allow smoking in a closed room with separate ventilation.