Application of Smoke-Free Ontario Act

The facts of Kennedy v. Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit,  2009 ONCA 685 are curious.

The appellant ran a sports bar. Once the Smoke-Free Ontario Act came into force the appellant closed the sports bar and opened a private club.

The private club had fairly open membership -- anyone could join for $4.00.

People were allowed to smoke in the "club"; the appellant argued the Smoke-Free Ontario Act did not apply because the club was not a public place.

The Court of Appeal disagreed:

[45]         Read as a whole, the Act is clearly designed to eliminate smoking in public places and thus protect members of the public from contact with second-hand smoke.  The word "public" is not defined in the Act.  There is no attempt to limit or restrict its application in any way.  As I see it, people who join the club are as much members of the public as are members of a swimming club or tennis club.

[46]         In this case members of the "smoking public" were approached and recruited to patronize the former sports' bar in the guise of joining a private club.  While the club was said to be a non-profit operation it ran essentially as before, except that admission was restricted to those members of the public who paid four dollars a month and accepted the club's simplistic rules.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777