Guelph may follow in McMaster's footsteps with campus-wide smoking ban

The University of Guelphis considering goingsmoke-free after McMaster University in Hamilton announced plans to do so starting in January.

"I think it's a wonderful initiative,"Don O'Leary, the vice president of finance and administration at U of G, told CBC News.

"It's something that we've discussed here at Guelph as well, so it's really great to see that McMaster's moved forward."

• McMaster University banning smoking on all campuses

McMaster's move makes it Ontario's first "100% tobacco and smoke-free campus," but O'Leary said there are other schools across the country that are moving in the same direction.

The university is conducting an employee engagement survey next monthand O'Leary said he's hopeful a smoking ban will be something staff say they'd like to see implemented.

Status quo in Waterloo region

None of Waterloo region's post-secondary institutions currently have any concrete plans for change.

Wilfrid Laurier University said theirsmoking policy will stay as-is for the time being.

University of Waterloo spokesman Matthew Grant told CBC K-W though there have been some casual discussions about smoking restrictionson campus, right now the plan is to keep the status quo.

Conestoga College said it will be watching the developments at McMaster with interest.

"I think it's a bit of a controversial move, in the sense of people looking at their rights and what they can and can't do by choice," saidMike Dinning, vice president of student affairs at Conestoga College.

"But from a health perspective, it would be hard not to support what McMaster's doing."