Looking back at Ontario's smoking ban 10 years later

Ten years ago today, bars and restaurants across Ontario cleaned out their ashtrays and butted out for the last time.

The Smoke Free Ontario Act made it illegal to smoke in workplaces, bars, restaurants and a host of other closed spaces.

• Ontario passes tough no-smoking legislation
• Windsor bans smoking in most public spaces

Neil MacKenzie was managing the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's tobacco program at the time and responsible for enforcing the new law.

Many local restaurants and businesses were worried about losing customers when Smoke Free Ontario passed, MadKenzie said. But a majority of customers don't smoke, so there was nothing to worry about, he said. MacKenzie thinks the act may have encouraged non-smokers to visit bars and restaurants.

The Smoke Free Act has "absolutely" reduced smoking and "denormalized" it, according to Eric Nadalin, head of the health unit's chronic disease and injury prevention.

Numbers indicate smoking rates are down five per centWindsor-Essex, Nadalin said. Across the province, youth smoking rates are lowest in history, he added.

Many communities are now making many outdoor public spaces smoke-free zones. In Windsor, city council banned smoking in mostpublic spaces, such as parks, beaches and community gardens.

The only exception will be for sports fans and other visitors at the WFCU Centre, where an outdoor area will become a designated smoking spot.

All recreation centres will, for the most part, be smoke-free as well, except for about a dozen sites that can have designated smoking areas when people renting the facility apply for permits.