SUMA votes in favour of asking province to ban vaping in public

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association will ask the province to ban electronic cigarettes in public places.

At the association's annual convention on Tuesday, SUMA members votedin favour of asking the Ministry of Health for a provincial ban on vaping in public.

The ban would extend to places where cigarettes have already been prohibited.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said it would prevent a patchwork of different rules on vaping throughout the province.

"It makes a lot more sense that way, and obviously the convention agreed with that," Fougere said.

A Saskatoon bylaw that went into effect Jan.1 already prohibits smoking and vaping in public places owned by the city.

Jennifer Miller, vice president of Health Promotion at the Lung Association of Saskatchewan, was at the conference Tuesday.

She said her organization would like to see some movement come out of this.

"I would certainly hope with the voices of the health groups, the voices of the Saskatchewan Medical Association, and now the voices of SUMA, that the provincial government will take an ear and listen," she said.

Voters on the issue includedhundreds of leaders from the province's towns, cities, and villages.