Yukon smoking ban meetings attract few people

Yukon politicians finished their tour of public meetings on a proposed territory-wide smoking ban byappearing in Whitehorse before a small but vocal audience on Tuesday.

The Whitehorse meeting, like the 17 previous public meetings in communities around the Yukon since Sept. 11, attracted few members of the public. Only about 15 people showed up Tuesday evening, including city, labour and health representatives.

The MLAs on the all-party panel heard mostly support from speakers at Tuesday's meeting. Yukon Federation of Labour president Alex Furlong pledged support from about 4,000 union members for the territory-wide ban on smoking in all public places.

"We will be vocal and be at the forefront in doing so," Furlong told Health Minister Brad Cathers, Liberal MLA Darius Elias and NDP MLA John Edzerza, the three panel members.

Whitehorse Mayor Bev Buckway said the city has already led the way with its 2004 citywide ban on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants.

"We have dealt with the controversy, and there was lots of it," she said. "You're on the right track and don't stop."

Canadian Cancer Society spokesman Scott Kent asked the government to not only ban smoking, but also raise taxes on cigarettes by at least $15 a carton, ban retail displays of cigarettes, outlaw tobacco sales in pharmacies, and ban smoking in private vehicles if children are present.

Neil Collishaw, research director with the group Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, told the panel that the Yukon is theonly territory or provincewithout anti-smoking legislation.

Butthe territory could lead the country if it adopted all of the cancer society's suggestions, Collishaw said.

"One of the great advantages of being in last place is that you can learn from all of the mistakes that others have made," he said.

"It would be very easy in this horse race to move quickly from last to first, taking advantage of the mistakes of all of the horses that have been running ahead of you."

The public consultation meetings were intended to give Yukoners a chance to comment on the territory-wide smoking ban. Last month, when the panel was nearly halfway through its tour, it had only seen 20 people come forward in five communities.

Cathers said he was disappointed with the low public turnout at the meetings, but he neverthelessbelieves the cost of the tour was money well spent.

The committee will report back to the legislature midway through the next session, he said. The earliest a new smoking ban could come into effect would be next summer, he said.