Smoke-Free Legislation – Message to the Ontario Government (February 12, 2005)
For Ontario government contact information, including email addresses, go here.
[Name], M.P.P.
Rm [X], Main Legislative Building
Toronto ON M7A 1A8
cc: The Honourable George Smitherman, M.P.P.
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
cc: The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, M.P.P.
Premier of the Province of Ontario
Dear [Mr. / Ms. M.P.P.],
I live in your riding and I appreciated your polite response to my last message on another issue a while back. I am sorry that my messages have to be so full of negativity, but I am sure you understand that it is nothing personal.
I am writing to oppose the government’s proposed Smoke-Free Ontario Act.
In a free society, people are free to make choices.
You must understand that there are many people like me who feel very strongly that it is not the proper role of governments to be involved in the engineering of society and personal habits.
Most of these places that the legislation designates as public places are actually private property, whether workplaces of all kinds, restaurants, bars or variety stores. It is the custom in Ontario to smoke where the property owner permits it. Employees choose their place of work and customers choose the businesses they want to deal with. Customers also complain to business owners when they dislike something. I am describing the free market and freedom of association.
I also want to mention the concept of personal responsibility. Ontario residents and business owners are made aware of tobacco health risks by their doctors and can judge for themselves the value of what they read in scientific studies.
The fact that many governments in Canada and worldwide have decided to interfere in these libertarian customs – of freedom, property rights and personal responsibility – well, this seems to be a global aberration promoted by ruling classes who all think in the same way.
To top it all off, this legislation proposes to interfere with private clubs – so it will even hurt members of the Royal Canadian Legion. This is a very real shame.
The mistake that the Ontario government makes is that it really believes in its ability to control the residents of this province. I am sure this stubborn and strange attitude will fail in the end, but not before it causes a great deal of damage.
Sincerely,
A. J. Mercer
[Address
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