Member physicians of the Yukon Medical Association (YMA) are embarrassed that the territory is the last jurisdiction in Canada without antismoking legislation, and have called on Premier Dennis Fentie to do something about it.

At the YMA's annual general meeting at the High Country Inn on Friday afternoon, doctors said they were again asking Fentie to come up with anti-smoking legislation to protect and promote Yukoners' health and safety.

In a series of questions dodged by Fentie, outgoing YMA president Wayne McNicol asked when the government was going to enact anti-smoking legislation.

'When you look at where the Yukon is situated compared to the rest of Canada, we still have higher smoking rates than everywhere else, except Nunavut and Northwest Territories,' McNicol said.

'Smoking is still a major preventative health issue. As our society evolves, these smoking bans are becoming more acceptable to society, and I think it's time the Yukon government strengthen their smoking legislation.

'We're going to kind of hammer the government again on this issue,' McNicol said, pointing out the YMA brought up the issue with Fentie last year.

According to a 2005 addictions survey by the Yukon government, the territory has the highest rates of smoking in the country.

The survey highlighted that 28 per cent of Yukoners over the age of 15 smoke.

Nationally, the Yukon leads in the number of people smoking followed by Quebec, where 26 per cent of people smoke, and then New Brunswick, which has a smoking rate of 25 per cent.

The Yukon is the only jurisdiction in Canada that does not have antismoking legislation. The City of Whitehorse does have a public smoking ban that went into effect for bars as well last January.

Fentie would not commit to bringing in new anti-smoking laws, saying the legislative assembly would probably not begin a new session again during this government's mandate.

Fentie said while 'it was unlikely' his government would propose antismoking legislation, he is concerned about youth smoking in the territory.

'I couldn't agree with you more with regards to the downstream effects of smoking and the effects on our health care system,' he said.

'But, our biggest concern now is ... the stats that show young Yukoners that are smoking is higher than the national average. That is concerning because it relates to the educational issue and how we can address that.

'We have to do much more on the prevention and education side to reach our young people. The more we can do to ensure they don't smoke, the better effect it will have on the health care system,' Fentie said.

'It's a well-known medical fact is if you reach these people before they're 20, it is unlikely that they will become addicted.'

Responding to questions from the Star as to whether permitting youth to sell cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations sets a bad example for young people, Fentie said youth selling cigarettes is not an issue in the smoking debate.

'The parallel with these people selling cigarettes in a job that happens to be a job where cigarettes are being sold as a revenue, contributing also to their wages, I can't really see the parallel.

'Our issue is: how do we get to youth and educate them not to smoke?' he said.

Fentie conceded the fact that the Yukon is the only region in Canada without jurisdiction-wide anti-smoking legislation showed 'a failure of government.'