Naomi Baker thinks itB次元官网网址檚 fine that the provincial government declared the last week in June to be B次元官网网址淪moke-Free Multi-Unit HousingB次元官网网址� week, but it would be even better if the government actually did something about the issue.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 [declaring a week] different than having legislation passed,B次元官网网址� observed Baker, the Langley mom who waged a nearly three-year battle to make her condominium a smoke-free building.

B次元官网网址淲e fought really tenaciously, and it took a lot to get it to pass.B次元官网网址�

She was reacting to a call by the Clean Air Coalition of BC, which includes the B.C. Lung Association, Heart and Stroke Foundation, and Canadian Cancer Society, for provincial action during the week to make it easier to ban smoking.

After her daughter, Faith, was born, Baker fought to stop second-hand smoke leaking into their unit through the walls and fixtures, setting up an and also .

In April, Baker and her husband delivered a petition for stronger anti-smoking rules to provincial housing minister Selina Robinson in Victoria.

Robinson seemed receptive, Baker said, but she is still waiting to hear more.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 have an update as to how [the rules would be changed],B次元官网网址� Baker said.

Whatever sort of regulation emerges, Baker stressed, it shouldnB次元官网网址檛 allow smoking even when a majority of people in a multi-unit building support it.

B次元官网网址淣inety-nine per cent canB次元官网网址檛 decide that the one per cent has to suck it up and die of second-hand-smoke,B次元官网网址� Baker commented.

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Coalition spokesperson Jack Boomer declared existing regulations make it B次元官网网址渆xtraordinarily difficult, time-consuming, costly, and seldom effective for residents, strata management, and landlords, to effect change on their own.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淲e need government intervention,B次元官网网址� Bommer maintained.

B次元官网网址淐reation of more 100 per cent smoke-free multi-unit housing options should be a health promotion priority.B次元官网网址�

Boomer repeated the coalition call for B次元官网网址減ractical, positive changeB次元官网网址� pointing to recommendations outlined in a coalition-sponsored report released in 2016.

One of the CoalitionB次元官网网址檚 recommendations includes making it possible, under BCB次元官网网址檚 Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), for landlords to implement premises-wide no smoking policies that apply to all tenants, with no grandfathering requirements.

Tenants who smoke would be given six months to comply.

The Coalition report also recommends all new strata buildings should be automatically smoke-free, as opposed to current regulations which requires 75 per cent of owners to approve a ban.

One in two British Columbians live in multi-unit dwellings, and given the high cost of housing, and our aging population, the proportion of people living one atop and aside one another will continue to grow, Boomer estimated.

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Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com

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