Mike Davenport spent the afternoon of his 50th birthday last Wednesday the same way he’s spent many, many afternoons over the past five years.

Enclosed in a glassed-off little room in the Piazza Manna restaurant at the foot of Bay St., Davenport was bellied up to a bar and puffing contentedly on a series of cigarettes.

It’s the last birthday he’ll celebrate in such a fashion.

That’s because his chosen hangout, along with some 700 restaurants, bars, clubs, cafeterias, bingo parlours, casinos and Legion Halls across Ontario, will be forced to butt out May 31, as legislation makes almost all indoor public places no-smoking zones.

“It’s a drag,” said Davenport, whose local was one of many establishments in the GTA to install designated smoking rooms (DSRs) to evade previous municipal smoking bans over the past five years.

“I just won’t come here as much. A lot of these guys won’t.”

The Queen’s Park regulations, which take effect at midnight Tuesday, will ban smoking from almost all DSRs and will also restrict patio smoking.

In a struggle that has seen tobacco users cede ground to anti-smoking forces in Ontario, the blue-hazed DSRs were the smokers’ last public stand.

By next week, smoking in public buildings will have been virtually eliminated.

In Toronto, that means about 200 DSRs will close their doors to smoking.

The new law replaces a mishmash of provincial and local bylaw regulations that saw different smoking rules being enforced across Ontario.

In Ottawa, for example, a complete smoking ban has existed for five years. In the GTA, Toronto, York, Halton, Durham and Peel regions each allowed for various DSR provisions.

There are no maximum fines set for corporations that violate the act; individuals could face penalties of up to $5,000 for illegal smoking.

Known as the Smoke Free Ontario Act, the legislation has left many smokers and tavern owners fuming.

But Joanne DiNardo, tobacco control specialist with the Ontario Lung Association, says “there are positive studies out there that show that smokers, because of the increased difficulty of smoking the product they’re addicted to, turn to quitting because of this type of legislation.”

The act is accompanied by some $60 million in annual provincial funding for municipal enforcement efforts, smoking cessation programs and education initiatives.

Source: Toronto Star