County councillors declined to consider the Wednesday with most agreeing the province needs to take the lead in strengthening its legislation.
Representatives from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit asked council to pass a bylaw that would provide consistent rules across the county.
WECHU health promotion specialist Eric Nadalin said a “clear, consistent regional approach” would reduce confusion for smokers as they travelled from municipality to municipality as well as demonstrate leadership on the issue.
But councillors said it was the province that should show leadership on what they consider a provincial matter.
“The Smoke-Free Ontario Act is applied evenly to all of us and that’s enough,” Leamington Mayor John Paterson said of current legislation that restricts outdoor smoking within 20 metres of playgrounds and sports fields.
“As municipal leaders we need to badger the province for stronger legislation and to reduce confusion between municipalities,” said Essex Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche.
Essex Mayor Ron McDermott questioned how WECHU’s four tobacco enforcement officers could provide enforcement across the county.
Four Essex County municipalities — Leamington, Lakeshore, Essex and Tecumseh — have implemented various restrictions against smoking in outdoor places, specifically at public parks, recreational facilities and sports fields.
As of Jan. 1, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act banned smoking on and around children’s playgrounds and publicly owned sport fields and surfaces such as ice rinks or tennis courts or municipally owned splash pads or swimming pools. Smoking is also banned on all bar and restaurant patios, with an exemption for Royal Canadian Legions, and it will be illegal to sell tobacco on university and college campuses.
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