Windsor is beefing up its smoking bylaws to include more specific items that will be banned in public spaces.
Council consented to a minor change in its bylaw to include 'hookah' within the expanded definition of smoking.
Though the ‘hookah’ technically fits under the ‘water-pipe’ category, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reps said this addition should remove any uncertainty.
Under the bylaw to prohibit smoking in the City of Windsor, smoking any tobacco product, as well as e-cigarettes, water pipes or vaporizing equipment is now banned in many public spaces. Those include city parks, beaches, trails, bus shelters, marinas, recreation centres and conservation areas. There are, however, designated smoking areas in some of those places.
“What we want to do is reduce exposure to these toxins, especially in these areas where people are trying to be active, areas like parks, community centres and rec centres,” said Eric Nadalin, who is the health unit’s manager of chronic disease and injury prevention.
“This is beneficial because not only does it reduce physical exposure, but because it takes tobacco use out of normalized behaviour in these spaces."
Windsor joins six other municipalities in Essex County which have passed bylaws more restrictivethan the Smoke-Free Ontario Act.
Only Amherstburg has yet to pass similar bylaws.
