Waterloo Smoking By-law and Cigarette Labeling

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Canada’s local governments enacted a series of smoke-free policies at the municipal level. On January 1, 2000, the Waterloo Regional Municipality (Ontario) passed a by-law requiring that smoking be banned in all public places, including restaurants, bars, billiard halls, bingo halls and bowling alleys. This was an extension of a 1996 smoking by-law requiring that restaurantS be at least 50% smoke-free and billiard halls, bingo halls and bowling alleys at least 25% smoke-free.

In addition, In December 2000, new, larger, graphic cigarette warning labels were introduced to Canadian residents. The 16 labels featured health risk messages and information about quitting smoking. These colorful labels covered over 50% of the cigarette package. Their 1996 predecessors were black and white and covered 35% of the package.

The goal of this policy is to protect residents from second-hand smoke, encourage smoking cessation and raise public awareness about tobacco issues.

In October 2001, a random telephone survey was conducted with 191 adult former smokers who resided in Waterloo, Ontario. Thirty-six percent cited Waterloo’s smoke-free by-law, and 31% cited the new warning labels as their motivation to quit smoking. In addition, 38.7% reported that the by-law, and 26.7% reported that the labels helped them remain abstinent. Four point eight percent reported that the labels served as sources of information on how to quit.