I feel as if I am in a bit of a moral pickle. Or, to be more precise, lawmakers in Ontario (and Nova Scotia) should feel as if they are walking a fine line. In these two provinces, it is illegal to smoke in your car whilst carrying passengers 16 years of age and under.Please do not misunderstand me. I am a non-smoker, vigilant in my efforts to minimise the amount of smoke that my children are exposed to. I have gotten into shouting matches with people who have the audacity to blow smoke into my children’s faces in designated non-smoking areas. The few members of my family who still smoke know better than to do so whilst in the company of my children.
Where I feel uncertain is in this new law’s über-intrusive nature. In essence, this law prohibits you from partaking in what is otherwise considered an acceptable act whilst in the confines of your personal, privately-owned space.
Now that this law has passed, why not take it a step further? Why not fine the pregnant woman who failed, or even worse, refuses to quit smoking? Why not ban smoking in the company of children altogether? It does not matter whether you are in a small space, such as a car, where the concentration of cigarette smoke is higher, or your living room, where such concentrations are not as strong. Either way, you are exposing your child to toxins.
Furthermore, what of the people who smoke regularly at home, in the presence of their (grand-) children? They are doing much more harm to the children than the cigarette-smoking taxi drivers who are likely to never see the children again.
My question, however, is how much privacy can be surrendered in the interest of a greater good. Where does it stop? And who is making sure that it stops?
Taxi drivers smoke in their car? As far as I am concerned, that is a business and can be regulated by the government. I smoke in my car (or my house) and it's not the government's business. Private citizen here.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the parents who drink in front of their kids? What about the ones who buy them too many video games and don't ensure they get enough excercise? What about the ones who only feed their kids fast food with no nutritional value?
There are plenty of ways to make your kids unhealthy and the government either needs to regulate ALL of them or butt their nose out.
But that's just my opinion.
I was wondering if taxi drivers are still allowed to smoke in the taxi... I just remember many a ride filled with coughing. It was not fun.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not acceptable. When the voters voted here to make smoking sections in restaurants illegal, there were many many many people (even non-smokers) who were up in arms about government regulations.
ReplyDeleteBut the thought of walking into a smokefilled restaurant now grosses me out!
People here are still making a big fuss about non-smoking laws; including my strictly non-smoking mother- and step-father-in-law who strongly supported the reversal of the smoking ban for neighbourhood pubs on the grounds of its cultural significance and feared impact on revenue.
ReplyDeleteThe argument is that smoking is as integral to the pub culture as drinking.
The law here is that if a place serves food and alcohol and receives more than 10% of its sales in food, NO SMOKING.
ReplyDeleteThere are bars who stopped serving food, because they wanted the smokers there. And many created an outdoor smoking area and continued to serve food. Certainly easier to do in NW Florida than in Germany, though, isn't it?