An Ottawa man is touring the Yukon this month, answering questions about the proposed territorial no-smoking legislation.

Neil Collishaw, a research director with Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, joined Health Minister Brad Cathers, NDP MLA John Edzerza and Liberal MLAs Don Inverarity and Darius Elias, on a tour of Yukon communities to meet with residents about Bill 104.

Collishaw was invited by the Yukon branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, which did not have enough staff to send out on the communities tour.

Collishaw has worked to promote tobacco controls as a former federal public servant and spent time at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

'Cigarettes are easily available, it's allowed indoors, and that sends the message that smoking is normal,' Collishaw said in an interview Wednesday.

He said the tobacco industry has run its course promoting smoking, and now the country's health industries are stepping up to bat with such initiatives as smoking bans.

The Yukon's anti-smoking bill, known as the Smoke-Free Places Act, was introduced to the legislative assembly last May.

The bill would legislate that no person shall smoke in any enclosed place, including government buildings and vehicles, the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, day cares, schools, libraries, churches, health care facilities, movie theatres, pool halls, community halls, stores, restaurants and bars.

It further says smoking cannot occur on outdoor patios at restaurants or bars, that smokers can't light up within a prescribed distance of a doorway, and that managers of facilities where smoking is prohibited must tell people to butt out or refuse them service.

The initiatives may seem tough, but Collishaw said such smoking bans have been successful in many areas of the country, and help send the message that smoking is not socially acceptable.

'We've noticed, where this policy has been enacted other places, that it's helped them (quit),' he said. 'Seeing people smoke makes it difficult to stop, and so when people have to go outside, away from sight, you don't have the same temptation.'

Collishaw, who has never been a smoker, admits quitting is not easy.

'It's pretty much the most powerful addiction there is,' he said. There have been studies with heroin addicts who were trying to quit smoking and drug use, and they reported that heroin was easier to quit.'

Collishaw said Yukoners may not quit smoking as a direct result of a smoking ban, but that government-led steps will help.

'Smoking won't stop overnight,' he said. 'There's a general will. There's a lot of ways people succeed in quitting.

'Some of it is without a program, like the encouragement of a friend or family member, and the laws that restrict smoking in certain places.'

Smoking bans in public places and work spaces have been implemented in P.E.I., Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, B.C., and all federal government workplaces.

Both Alberta and the Yukon have smoking ban bills before legislature, and Whitehorse and Dawson City have municipal smoking laws.

The anti-smoking select committee of the legislature has been touring Yukon communities since Sept. 11.

It will conclude its sessions with a public meeting Oct. 2 at the Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre in Whitehorse.