CANADIAN HOMES BAN SMOKING BY 61% MARGIN

MONTREAL -- Smoking is banned in about 60 per cent of Canadian residences,
with British Columbians and Quebecers being polar opposites in allowing the
habit, a new opinion poll suggests.

The Leger Marketing survey indicated smoking is prohibited in 83 per cent
of homes in British Columbia, compared with 36 per cent of residences in
Quebec.

Quebecers have always been considered the heaviest or among the heaviest
smokers in Canada, with some attributing their predilection for puffing to
their Latin background.

"French-speaking people smoke more, even francophones in other provinces,"
said Louis P. Brisson, vice-president of the Canadian Lung Association.
"It's a cultural thing."

Other provinces and their percentages in terms of banning smoking at home
according to the Leger poll were: Ontario, 69; Manitoba and Saskatchewan,
66; Alberta, 63; and the Atlantic provinces, 58.

That adds up to 61 per cent across the country, suggested the poll of 1,500
Canadians. The national number is considered accurate within 2.6 percentage
points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for the regional numbers is
higher.

The poll also found 34 per cent of respondents believed smoking cigarettes
is more harmful than smoking marijuana, while 33 per cent said the two are
equally harmful.

Fourteen per cent considered smoking cigarettes less harmful, while 18 per
cent did not know or refused to answer.

John McDonald, director of public affairs at tobacco-products manufacturer
Rothmans Benson & Hedges, doesn't believe the volume of cigarettes sold
across the country is affected by the number of people who ban smoking in
their homes.

"People, if they have to go out on the balcony -- if you're talking about
in a home -- or step outside in an office, they'll do so," McDonald said.

"They've made a decision that they do want to smoke."

But David Sweanor, counsel for the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, said
the results reflect a major change in people's attitudes toward puffing in
private residences.

"It used to be a time when a lot of people were considered to be rude to
tell somebody they couldn't smoke inside one's house," Sweanor said .

He also said the marijuana-versus-cigarette question is an easy one to answer.

"There's no question that cigarette smoking is massively more harmful than
marijuana," he said.

"The reality is that marijuana is not killing people and tobacco is killing
45,000 a year."