SMOKE-FREE HOUSING ONTARIO http://www.smokefreehousingon.ca
News: 2009 Q4 Archive

Some In Santa Monica want to see smoking banned in apartments
(December 16, 2009)
(LA Weekly) How times change. They used to call it the Republic of Santa Monica because our little city by the bay was so crunchy liberal you could barely throw a rock without hitting a pair of Birkenstocks or an unkempt beard. more...

Smoking results in fire
(December 7, 2009)
(The Sarnia Observer) Careless smoking has been cited as the cause of a boarding house fire in Sarnia's west end. Firefighters arrived at midnight Tuesday and found smoke on the third-floor of the 22-unit, north Christina residence. more...

Low-income rentals in Boulder may become smoke-free
(December 7, 2009)
(Boulder DailyCamera) Boulder Housing Partners follows county's lead Just a few months after Boulder County instituted a smoking ban at its low-income rental properties, the city's housing authority is talking about following suit. Staffers at Boulder Housing Partners are now developing a plan for how they might transition the 1,000 rental units they own and operate to no-smoking accommodations. more...

Soon, no smoking in public housing?
(November 30, 2009)
(The North Platte Telegraph) Property owners can be subject to legal action from tenants who are not being protected from secondhand smoke, according to a local group. The Lincoln County Tobacco Free Coalition has announced its focus on the issue at McKinley Education Center on Thursday. more...

3 counties work to get smoke-free apartments
(November 20, 2009)
(Star Tribune) Half of metro area renters would consider moving to a nonsmoking apartment, according to a new survey. more...

For some smokers, even home is off limits
(November 17, 2009)
(The New York Times) More landlords are moving to prohibit smoking in their apartment buildings, telling prospective tenants they can be evicted if they light up in them. This month, the Related Companies will ban smoking at some of its downtown apartment buildings because of health concerns about secondhand smoke, according to company officials. more...

National Post issues retraction and apology to the Non-Smokers' Rights Association
(November 17, 2009)
(National Post) Retraction and apology--An editorial entitled "Turning smoking into a crime" in the October 27, 2009 edition of the National Post stated that the Non-Smokers' Rights Association advocates the amendment of Ontario's building code to prohibit smoking in all apartments and condominiums. That is not correct. more...

Tenants demand tougher anti-smoking laws
(November 17, 2009)
(Santa Monica Daily Press) There are many days warm or cool when the windows to Mike Horelick's Santa Monica apartment remain shut, keeping out ocean breezes, the fragrance of a neighbor's dinner and cigarette smoke. It's the latter that forces the local screenwriter to often seal his home, protecting his asthmatic 3-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son from the cigarette smoke that wafts from a neighbor's patio a floor below. more...

No smokes for public housing folks
(November 10, 2009)
(Maclean's) There will soon be far fewer smokers in some of Canada's public housing units. "We've got people who are unhealthy, frail, have children or have quit smoking," says Deb Schlichter, director of housing for the region of Waterloo, Ont., where new tenants are required to sign leases with no-smoking clauses. more...

Apartment building going smoke-free
(November 10, 2009)
(The Chatham Daily News) Russell Chandler has smoked for more than 50 years, but he is willing to curb his, habit to be more neighbourly. He is one of approximately 90 tenants of the South Chatham Village Apartments who will have to adapt to a smoking ban coming into effect at the apartment complex, Jan 1, 2010. more...

Council endorses move
(November 10, 2009)
(The Observer) A 57-unit affordable housing project for seniors and the disabled to be built on the site of the former Marshall Gowland Manor will be a smoke-free building. more...

Health group serves National Post with notice of libel suit
(November 10, 2009)
Toronto — The Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (NSRA) has served the National Post with a notice of the Association’s intention to sue the paper under the Ontario Libel and Slander Act. The October 27th editorial alleged that the NSRA is “pressuring” the Ontario government to use building code reforms “to forbid smoking in all apartments and condominiums.” more...

Local smoke-free housing proposed
(October 26, 2009)
(The Observer) - An affordable housing project planned for the old Marshall Gowland Manor site could be a smoke-free building. It would the first public housing building to be smoke-tree in Lambton if county council approves the move. more...

Smoke-free housing complex in Lambton is long overdue
(October 26, 2009)
(The Observer) - Point of view. If you have ever lived in an apartment you know the smell of second-hand smoke wafting into your dwelling can be enough to make you sick. In fact, second-hand smoke kills. Lambton County's smoke-free housing proposal got the green light from a standing committee. more...

Smoking and hate crimes
(October 26, 2009)
(Toronto Star) Re Peel rejects proposal to ban smoking in tenants' homes, Oct. 23 There isn't any need for changes to be made to the Ontario Building Code, or anyone else's for that matter. Air quality testing done by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Oak Ridge (Tennessee) National Laboratory have found that secondhand smoke levels are well within safe limits. more...

The last towers of refuge
(October 26, 2009)
(Globe and Mail) Editorial - A man's house is his castle, observed the British jurist Sir Edward Coke in 1628 - at a time when such a phrase might literally have been true. But should today's castles be exclusively non-smoking? more...

The smoking police are now barging into your home
(October 23, 2009)
(National Post) Comment--At today’s General Committee Meeting for the regional municipality of Peel, public health officials will present councillors with a report urging government to barge into the bedrooms (and kitchens and bathrooms and foyers) of residents of condo and apartment buildings. more...

Butt ban excludes duplex dwellers
(October 23, 2009)
(The Barrie Examiner) Letter to the editor--Even as a smoker, I am all for the city bylaws that protect nonsmokers from my bad habit. I don't even smoke in my own house or car. But I have a huge problem, I live in a 100-year-old duplex with my husband and baby, and the people next door smoke inside so much that all of us cough and choke. more...

Tenants should not have to endure that obnoxious smoke
(October 23, 2009)
(Waterloo Region Record) Once upon a disgusting time there were Canadians who, braying words like liberty, defended their right to chew tobacco and spit mouthfuls of sludge out in public places. Championing selfish personal freedom, such misguided libertarians would uphold the right to urinate in public. more...

Smoking ban unfair
(October 23, 2009)
(Waterloo Region Record) Letters Smoking ban unfair Re: Smoking banned for new tenants in public housing — Oct. 15 Let's take peoples' rights away because they are poor and need help: This is the stand Waterloo regional council took when it passed this crazy ban. more...

Peel rejects proposal to ban smoking in tenants' homes
(October 23, 2009)
(Toronto Star) The demand for smoke-free apartments and condominiums is gathering momentum in Ontario, according to the Non-Smokers' Rights Association. Thursday, Peel Region's general committee rejected the idea of passing a bylaw banning smoking in such buildings because officials said restricting tenants' rights to do what they wish in their own homes wouldn't stand up in court. more...

Letters--Let them smoke
(October 21, 2009)
(Waterloo Region Record) Re: Region should butt out of tenants' personal lives — Oct. 13 Although I don't smoke cigarettes myself, I find it abhorrent the way that Waterloo regional politicians think. more...

Letters - Every landlord's right
(October 21, 2009)
(Waterloo Region Record) Re: Region Should Butt Out Of Tenants' Persoanal Lives — Oct. 13 Peter Shawn Taylor's article on the region's proposal to ban smoking in public housing implies that what is OK for a private landlord is not OK for a public one. more...

Have Your Say
(October 21, 2009)
(The Hamilton Spectator) Yesterday's question was: Peel's top public health officials are lobbying to ban smoking from apartments and condos in an effort to limit second-hand smoke inhalation. more...

Peel considers ban on smoking in all apartments, condominiums
(October 21, 2009)
Peel region is proposing drastic action to protect people from second-hand smoke. It wants to ban smoking inside all apartments and condos, and it's hoping Ontario enacts the ban province-wide. more...

A QUESTION OF RIGHTS
(October 21, 2009)
Letters A question of rights Re: Smoking banned for new tenants in public housing — Oct. 15 The Supreme Court of Canada describes the home as "being the place where our most intimate and private activities are most likely to take place. more...

Health unit pushes for inclusion of apartments, condos in anti-smoking act
(October 19, 2009)
TORONTO - Peel Public Health is pushing Queen's Park to add more restrictions to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. more...

Smoking ban urged for Peel condos and apartments
(October 19, 2009)
Peel's top public health officials are lobbying to ban smoking from apartments and condos in an effort to limit second-hand smoke inhalation. If their push is successful, apartment dwellers would not be able to smoke in their own homes. more...

New Policy shows how to provide human rights in rental housing
(October 16, 2009)
Toronto - New guidelines will help improve equal access to rental housing for all Ontarians. The Policy on Human Rights and Rental Housing, Canada’s first comprehensive look at how barriers to housing can be indentified and eliminated, was released today by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). more...

This is their home
(October 16, 2009)
Re: Smoke-free policy takes effect April 1 - Oct. 7 After reading this article, I truly believe the homeless rate in Waterloo Region will rise. more...

Smoking banned for new tenants in public housing
(October 16, 2009)
Waterloo Region--Regional council voted 12-3 Wednesday to confirm a ban on smoking in about 2,700 public housing units owned by Waterloo regional government. more...

Langley tenants fight in-suite strata smokers
(October 16, 2009)
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has declined to dismiss a complaint by a Langley couple who object to their neighbours’ smoking. This is the second time in two years that the tribunal has refused to dismiss a complaint of this nature. Paul and Rose Kabatoff, who own their suite, alleged to the tribunal that Strata Corporation Plan NW 2767 discriminated against them on the basis of physical disability. more...

Region should butt out of tenants' personal lives
(October 13, 2009)
Waterloo Region owns 2,591 apartment buildings, houses and various other rental accommodations. And they may soon be smoke-free, if council approves a new policy banning smoking in all its public housing. more...

Smoke-free policy takes effect April 1
(October 9, 2009)
New tenants living in multi-unit dwellings owned by Waterloo Region will not be allowed to smoke in their units, regional councillors decided Tuesday. This smoke-free policy will not apply to existing tenants unless they move to a new unit. It takes effect April 1. more...

Condo Leakage: No smoking in your own apartment
(October 7, 2009)
Wasn't it just the other day that New York City proposed to ban smoking outdoors in parks? Why, yes, it was. The city's health commissioner said kids shouldn't "have to be breathing in smoke from the person next to them" or "have to be watching someone smoke." Don't smoke in your office, at a bar, or on public property. And while you're at it, don't smoke in your apartment. more...