Alberta - only two provinces left that do not ban smoking in cars with children..

January 30, 2011 - Alberta Liberal leader Dr. David Swann, a family physician, is planning to introduce a motion in the Legislative Assembly during the spring sitting to make changes to the Tobacco Reduction Act that would make it illegal for adults to smoke in vehicles while children under the age of 16 are present. (The Spring sitting of the 4th Session of the 27th Legislature will begin at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, 2011.)

January 20, 2011 - Canadian Cancer Society - wants Alberta and all other remaining provinces/territories to ban smoking in cars with children..

“It’s a public health measure that has been incorporated in most provinces in Canada now to recognize the priority of child health and public health in general,” he said, adding that Alberta and Quebec are currently the only provinces in Canada without such legislation on the books.

“Smoking in any enclosed case concentrates the toxins and increases the risks. That applies to adults, of course, but adults are in a position to make those decisions themselves about whether to smoke in a confined space and whether to also speak to someone who is smoking in their presence. Children themselves have no say.”

The town council in Okotoks, 45 minutes outside Calgary, enacted a similar municipal bylaw in 2008, and the City of Leduc passed a bylaw banning smoking in cars where kids up to the age of 18 are passengers in December. Swann said the provincial government needs to stand up and take leadership on this issue, rather than leave it to individual municipalities to pass their own bylaws.

Swann concedes that such a law would be difficult to enforce, but he hopes awareness and education will get people to butt out. “Identifying someone smoking in a car isn’t that easy, and I can understand that,” he said. “What I guess the role of government is, is to raise the level of awareness that it’s the wrong thing to do. Simply by having a solid commitment to changing the practice of smoking in cars, that’s sufficient to change the behaviour, for the most part.” (British Columbia - 1st man fined for smoking in car with his child present..)

Reference: Car smoking ban to protect kids: Liberal leader, Glenn Cook, Saint City News, 1/28/2011.(kids, child, auto, vehicle)