Smoking ban butted out by province

Ken Johnston
Editor

Last Tuesday Dr. Peter Sarsfield, the Chief Medical Officer for this region with the Northwestern Health Unit lost his battle to ban smoking from all workplaces here.
The Ontario Health Services Review Board ruled that Sarsfield exceeded his authority, but did say that individual municipalities have the power to ban smoking from all workplaces.
There was no word this week as to whether the NWHU, under Sarsfield’s direction will appeal the decision.
The newly elected Liberal Government has said it will ban all smoking in the workplace within the next three years. That is something that Sarsfield and the NWHU wanted the province to do in the first place. But without any commitment to do so before they forged ahead, trying to eliminate the health risk to workers without the support of the government.
However, Sarsfield has said in the past that the three year time frame proposed by the McGinty government is not soon enough.