Long overdue protection

Dear sir:
Congratulations to Dr. Peter Sarsfield, Northwestern Ontario’s medical officer of health, for having the guts to protect the marginalized majority who wish protection from the harm and discomfort caused by second-hand smoke.
He has struck a blow for human rights, winning long-denied right of access to public places for everyone who either has—or does not wish to develop—a respiratory disability.
He has correctly noted that passive smoking should be addressed by higher levels of government; however, those are wimping out, leaving regional and municipal government officials such as himself to enact and enforce long overdue and badly-needed public protection.
Our experience in Vancouver with smoke-free legislation also was heralded by rabid name-calling from a hostile minority made up of addicts and business owners too incompetent to make a living off the 75-80 percent of the population who do not smoke.
Convenient access to a drug delivery method of choice in public places yielded to protecting the much more urgent and real need to breathe.
Nowadays, even most smokers grudging admit that smoke-free is better and businesses are healthy and growing, except, ironically, for those few still struggling to put militant smokers first.
(Signed),
Sera Kirk
Vancouver, B.C.