The Yukon Federation of Labour (YFL) is calling on the territorial government to ban smoking in all Yukon workplaces.

At its sixth biennial meeting held last Saturday in Whitehorse, the federation resolved to 'urge the Yukon Workers' Health and Safety Board to ban smoking in all Yukon workplaces.'

In an interview Wednesday, federation president Alex Furlong said he felt anti-smoking legislation should be enacted across the Yukon in light of all of the scientific evidence on the ill-health effects of secondhand smoke.

Furlong also cites the fact that the Yukon is the last jurisdiction in Canada without such legislation.

'With all the overwhelming evidence we have about secondhand smoke, we're asking the (health and safety board) to ban smoking in the workplace,' he said.

Currently, other than the City of Whitehorse, which passed its own antismoking bylaw that came into effect in January 2004, the Yukon Territory does not have anti-smoking legislation.

'Why doesn't (Premier Dennis) Fentie do something about it?' he asked.

Furlong's comments echo similar calls coming from the Yukon's medical community.

At last month's annual meeting of the Yukon Medical Association, the outgoing president, Dr. Wayne McNicol, asked Fentie more than once when his government planned to enact anti-smoking legislation in the territory.

'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 the 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,' he said.

In response to McNicol, Fentie said he agreed smoking is a major health issue but that it's unlikely his government would address the issue in its current mandate, which will expire next year.

'I couldn't agree with you more with regards to the downstream effects of smoking and the effects on our health care system,' Fentie said in response to McNicol's question.

His government is particularly concerned with youth smoking rates, he added.

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

Nationally, the Yukon leads Canada in the number of people smoking; 28 per cent of people above the age of 15 smoke. That's followed by Quebec, 26 per cent, and New Brunswick, where 25 per cent of people over 15 smoke.

According to Health Canada, secondhand smoke 'is what smokers exhale and what rises from an idle burning cigarette.

'...(T)here are 4,000 chemicals in smoke ... (and) more than 50 of these chemicals are carcinogens: they cause cancer.

'The chemicals also contribute directly to other diseases such as asthma, heart disease and emphysema. And that's for smokers and non-smokers alike.'

Health Canada also states that nonsmoking bylaws do not have long-lasting economic impacts on bars or restaurants.

'One of the main arguments put forth by groups and individuals opposed to smoke-free legislation is that business, especially bars and restaurants, will lose money following the implementation of a nonsmoking by-law.

'However, study after study using official sales tax data shows that smoke-free legislation has no long-term negative impact on restaurant, bar, hotel and tourism receipts.'

Whitehorse has had a smoking ban in place since last January.

According to the Yukon government, in the first six months of 2005, almost the same dollar value, about $5 million, worth of alcoholic beverages was sold to merchants (bars and restaurants), in the territory, as was the case for the first six months of 2004.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society (2001), there are now more than 300 municipalities in Canada with anti-smoking legislation.

Speaking in agreement with Furlong, Doug Rody, the YFL's executive director, said he too believes it's time to institute a territory-wide smoking ban.

'There's a lot of potential liability (without this legislation),' Rody said.

'We know the workers' compensation board will be forced to pay for claims,' he said, citing examples in B.C. and Ontario.

'Knowing that, we should mitigate that liability,' he said.

In 2001, the Ontario Workplace Health and Safety Board agreed that Ontario waitress Heather Crowe's terminal lung cancer is an occupational disease linked to long-term exposure to second-hand smoke.

Similarly, the B.C. Workers' Compensation Board permitted a claim in 2001 from a woman who filed for disability because she developed breast cancer working in a smoky workplace.