NEWS RELEASE
Maureen MacDonald (Halifax Needham)
May 17, 2002
Halifax
- NDP Health critic Maureen MacDonald spoke out on behalf of
Nova Scotians who are disappointed in the Hamm government's
amendments to their own Bill 125, The Smoke Free Places Act,
presented today by Health Minister Jamie Muir in the foyer of
Province House today.
"An
NDP government will make public places in Nova Scotia 100 per
cent smoke free," says MacDonald. " Every worker in
the province has the right to a safe and healthy workplace and
every business owner has the right to expect consistent laws
that give all competitors a level playing field."
"The
amendments we have seen today water down the original bill.
So ashtrays have to be removed from non-smoking areas and you
can't smoke in taxi shelters. Casinos are still exempt. Smoke-free
patios now can be 50 per cent smoking and the cabinet now has
the power to make further exemptions to the regulations."
"All
these 'amendments' demonstrate is how little the Hamm government
understands the legislative process."
MacDonald
points out that many of the government's policy initiatives
this session have fallen flat because of its failure to include
public consultation in drafting legislation. She points to the
government's retreat from the Assessment Act and Municipal Grants
Act in face of wide-spread protest from municipal government,
and to other decisions it has rescinded, such as the cuts to
transition houses when that, too, provoked public outcry.
"It's
as if they draft this legislation on a napkin, see how it goes
and then try to fix it up," says MacDonald.
"But
because they are so out of touch with public opinion, even when
they try to be responsive they don't get it right."
"Nova
Scotians want a 100 per cent ban on smoking in public places.
Fiddling on the edges like this just doesn't get us where we
need to go."
