Montreal smokers, non-smokers praise ban - The Montreal Gazette
January 17, 2011

Brendan Kelly

Non-smoking week to raise awareness about deadly vice

Smokers and non-smokers seem to agree on at least one thing - they’re happy with the Quebec law banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

“I believe it should be banned everywhere,” said Nola Leblanc, in between puffs on her cigarette while standing on Ste. Catherine St. downtown Sunday afternoon.

“It’s my vice,” continued Leblanc. “I’m an addict to quitting. My mission is to quit before September because I’m going to become a grandmother.”

Daisy Alcinder, who was smoking alongside Leblanc on the chilly sidewalk, said she had read in the papers that this was a week dedicated to reducing smoking in Quebec. La Semaine québécoise pour un avenir sans tabac, which kicked off Sunday and continues until Saturday, is dedicated this year to raising awareness of the dangers of second-hand smoke.

“I thought it would be a good week to quit,” Alcinder said. “But it helps me think. It calms me down and puts my thoughts in place. But all in all, it’s a nasty habit, I know it.”

“We can’t smoke anywhere inside, which is fine for me because I’m a non-smoker,” said Pascale Younes. “When people smoke indoors, I get an irritation in my eyes.”

Fellow non-smoker Dany Acar is well aware of the health risks of smoking.

“People who smoke don’t breathe as well,” Acar said.

Montreal’s Mount Sinai Hospital will be holding the second annual Pink Lungs Day at Place Ville Marie on Tuesday, an event where people can talk to respiratory specialists and take a pulmonary function test. This will take place between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday in the food court.

On Monday morning, 16 Quebec teenagers with the mayors from each of their cities, will be holding a press event to ask people to not smoke in their cars if they are driving with children 16 years old or younger.

Quebec is the province in which parents smoke in front of their children more frequently than in any other province in Canada. Forty-three per cent of Quebec families have banned smoking in their households, compared with 64 per cent of families in the rest of the country, according to Health Canada. Each year, around 300 non-smoking Quebecers die from diseases caused by exposure to secondary smoke.