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Now a good time to consider smoke-free playgrounds, other areas

I wonder how many people know that Red Deer City Council recently passed revisions to its Smoke Free Bylaw that further protect

Dear Editor,

I wonder how many people know that Red Deer City Council recently passed revisions to its Smoke Free Bylaw that further protect the health of children in playgrounds and other public facilities?

Changes to the Red Deer bylaw took effect in July and go beyond seriously weak provincial rules to restrict smoking in any public venue where children might be present — including playgrounds, seasonal skating rinks, skate parks, sport fields, water spray parks and toboggan hills.

Smoking is detrimental to human health, both for the smoker and for those in their vicinity. Smoking in the presence of children helps reinforce for these impressionable young minds that smoking is an adult social norm that all children can aspire to. The tobacco industry continuously panders to young smokers through the introduction of flavoured cigarettes, smaller (and thus cheaper) “kiddie packs”, and with so called “electronic cigarettes”.

While the Red Deer bylaw does provide penalties for those who smoke in the presence of children, the focus remains on education rather than enforcement. I personally believe this is as it should be. The Red Deer bylaw encourages individuals to work within a framework that considers both the smoker and the non-smoker while also recognizing that children deserve special care and protection. Do our own children deserve any less?

Perhaps now is a good time to raise the idea of a similar bylaw for the protection all children within the Town of Sylvan Lake, both residents and visitors alike. We have a number of new candidates running for town council and I am hopeful that fresh minds will be open to new ideas; and please don’t use the provincial park as an excuse for continuing inaction. Our children and grandchildren deserve better.

Richard Backs,

Sylvan Lake