Ontario’s head of government voiced concerns Friday with his Progressive Conservative party’s plan to let adults use marijuana legally in public.
Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier and a former Toronto city councillor, questioned legislation tabled Thursday amending the province’s public smoking law to permit marijuana use in the same places as cigarettes, including city streets and parts of public parks within Canada’s most populous province.
“I don’t know, guys,” Mr. Ford told reporters at a press conference, Canadian outlets reported. “I don’t like people walking around drunk or smoking weed or any of that in a public part of a park.
“I don’t want these people smoking around children — there’s children in parks,” Mr. Ford said.
Introduced in anticipation of Canada federally legalizing marijuana next month, the proposal offered Thursday would place the plant under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, effectively permitting adults to use pot where smoking and vaping tobacco is allowed, excluding boats and automobiles.
“We won’t be allowing [cannabis use] close to parks,” Mr. Ford told reporters when asked about the legislation early Friday, directly contradicting his own government’s proposal, CBC reported. “That’s unacceptable, our priority it to keep children safe.”
Mr. Ford’s office subsequently issued a statement later Friday suggesting the premier was specifically concerned with the proximity of playgrounds to potential pot use.
“As a government, we made the decision to introduce legislation that aligns the laws surrounding the consumption of cannabis with the Smoke Free Ontario Act. The Smoke Free Ontario Act prohibits the consumption of cannabis within 20 meters of playgrounds,” the statement said. “It is important to note, that municipalities have the ability to enact by-laws restricting smoking in other outdoors spaces, including parks.”
Mr. Ford, 53, has served as Ontario’s premier since March 2018 and previously served as Toronto councilor from 2010 through 2014. He is the brother of Rob Ford, the late former Toronto mayor made infamous by his use of crack cocaine while in office.
Canada’s federal government voted earlier this year to legalize marijuana, paving the way for provinces to allow recreational use and sales starting Oct. 17.
“This was dumped on us from the feds. They walked away like this, cleaned their hands and said, ’OK, province, you guys deal with all the issues’,” Mr. Ford said Friday, CBC reported. “It’s a difficult situation that the feds have put us in,” he added.
The Liberal government that led Ontario prior to Mr. Ford’s Progressive Conservative party had supported banning public marijuana consumption prior to losing control. The pending legislation, meanwhile, “would prohibit smoking cannabis in places where smoking tobacco and using e-cigarettes would be prohibited,” according to the Ontario attorney general’s office.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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