Nicotine addicts throughout Ontario are now looking elsewhere for places to light up, now that a new set of regulations restrict where smokers can puff.

As of May 31, the new Smoke-Free Ontario Act prohibits smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public places like restaurants, bars, schools, private clubs, sports arenas, entertainment venues, work vehicles, and offices.

The interior of London bars and clubs have been smoke-free since 2003, when London and Middlesex Country passed a similar by-law to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act.

The act also bans smoking on patios that have food and beverage service if they are either partially or completely covered by a roof.

“We are working on accommodating a patio area for smoking,” said Sal Pacifico, Club Phoenix Operations Manager, whose patio is completely covered by a roof.

Mark Serre, manager of GT's on Richmond St., said the patio of the popular college bar is roofless, so there would not be any problem obeying the new regulations.

The Middlesex-London Health Unit has assigned six inspectors to enforce the smoke-free legislation, and non-compliance can result in individual fines of $1,000 for a first offence and $5,000 for repeated offences.

According to the Ministry of Health, tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in Ontario, killing 16,000 Ontarians every year.

Heather Crowe, the act's spokeswomen who never smoked a day in her life, developed lung cancer due to second hand smoke. Crowe died in May after spending 40 years working as a waitress in an atmosphere saturated with second-hand smoke.

“We hope the Smoke-Free Ontario Act will limit where people smoke and also be a motivation for people to not smoke,” said Nathalie Noel, community outreach consultant for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Noel said the Smoke-Free Ontario Act was put into action on May 31, 2006 because the date is recognized as “No Tobacco Day” worldwide.

In 2004 18 percent of Canadians aged 15-19 smoked. This was the lowest annual smoking rate for teen girls since monitoring of smoking began in 1965. Smoking rates for youth have begun to decrease in recent years, from 28 percent in 1999 to 18 percent in 2004.

The Smoke-Free Ontario Act will also make it more difficult for someone younger than 25 to buy cigarettes, requiring retailers to ask for ID if a person appears younger than this age.

In addition, the new act will ban the display of tobacco products.

“The legislation will protect workers and the public from exposure to second-hand smoke and it will help to ensure that young people don't pick up this deadly addiction,” said Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Heather Crowe, the act's spokeswomen who never smoked a day in her life, developed lung cancer due to second hand smoke. Crowe died in May after spending 40 years working as a waitress in an atmosphere saturated with second-hand smoke.

In honour of Crow, Health Minister Tony Clement announced the Federal Government would contribute more than $89,000 for the production of a documentary about her life.