By Mike Spelay
A $160,000 advertising campaign has been successful in mobilizing the anti-smoking lobby in Ottawa by displaying the dangers and inconveniences of second-hand smoke on buses, television and in newspapers.
“It has been visibly successful,” says Carolyn Hill, president of the council on smoking and health.
“The Web site is receiving 25 to 30 hits daily,” she says. “There’s always an increase in numbers whenever a new ad is run.
“We’ve received so many letters, postcards, e-mails and such. One of the most popular comments is that ‘I have not been able to go to a bar in years because it affects my health.’”
The campaign was designed by Smoke Free Ottawa, a collective organization made up by the City of Ottawa Public Health Department, the Ottawa-Carleton Council on Smoking and Health, Regional Heartbeat and Cancer Care Ontario.
“One of the difficulties in trying to promote a non-smoking bylaw is a number of the people in favour are silent about it,” says Hill.
The campaign has brought the silent majority out of the woodwork to voice its support for the campaign.
“The primary purpose was to give people who have been silent about the issue a voice,” says Debbie McCulloch, a spokeswoman for the City of Ottawa Public Health Department.
The ads commonly point out the link between smoking and cancer and the lack of choice for non-smokers who do not wish to be exposed to the effects of second-hand smoke.
The campaign was paid for by a provincial ministry of health grant, to support a ministry mandate to reduce tobacco use in Ontario.
However, not everyone agrees with the ad campaign, since the bylaw has not yet been passed.
“I think that the amount of money being spent on the campaign is offensive,” says Randy Lanctot, owner of Barrymore’s and other small businesses in Ottawa.
“I object to this bylaw on principle. I don’t think the City of Ottawa should legislate the way we socialize.”
Others think it’s a waste to spend money on something that has not worked in cities like Toronto, which attempted a smoking ban in 1997.
“The city wants us to think it’s going to work,” says Jill Scott, manager of Chateau Lafayette House, “and they are spending major money telling us it’s going to work. I’d feel better if they’d could tell us that it has worked, but wherever it’s been passed it has not worked.”
The bylaw would ban smoking in all public places, including bars, restaurants, bingo halls and bowling alleys.
Although it is unusual to spend this kind of money on a bylaw that is still being debated, McCulloch thinks the magnitude of the problem outweighs the sum of money.
“Second-hand smoke is the third-leading cause of preventable death,” she says. “We’ll be saving health-care dollars. I think it’s a wise investment.”
Although it was pointed out at the April 6 public meeting that the majority of exposure to second-hand smoke comes from the home and not public places, the government doesn’t plan to legislate smoking in private residences.
The bylaw will be presented to full council on April 25 and supporters like McCulloch expect it to pass easily.