Toronto isn’t an easy place to be a smoker. I shed no tears for smokers because of this fact since smoking is the single most dumb ass thing you can voluntarily do to yourself. In Ontario, the anti-smoking laws are pretty tough. Basically, you’re not allowed to smoke in any indoor public area… at all. Yikes.
Anyway, the Ontario’s Ministry of Health Promotion has sent a letter to the Toronto Film Festival organizers warning them that they’ll be watching. You see, last year Sean Penn was smoking during an indoor press conference… that’s against the law here. No charges were laid against Penn, but the hotel where the press conference was held did get fined for the inident.
In this letter, the Ontario Ministry of Health warned about the following (from Yahoo News):
“The SFOA (Smoke-Free Ontario Act) requires proprietors and employers to ensure the public is aware of the prohibition on smoking, post appropriate signage as prescribed by the legislation, and ensure no person smokes in prohibited areas,” the letter to festival organizers read. “Noncompliance with these obligations could result in charges being laid.”
CHARGES will be laid? Ok look, I’m as anti-smoker as anyone… but that seems a little bit harsh. Fined maybe… but charges? A lot of people are coming into Toronto from other places that don’t have such strict laws on smoking, and maybe a little bit of leeway should be given here.
What all this probably means is that the Ministry will end up charging the establishments for not enforcing the laws instead of laying charges against individuals who light up. Either way, looks like they’re laying down the law on the whole smoking thing this year for sure.
The bottom line is, play it safe. If you’re coming into Toronto for the Film Festival this year… just leave your cigarettes in the hotel room or in your rental car. You could end up getting fined $1000 or charged. I wonder if they put that in the festival program?
