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Laurie in Debate

Bill 45: Smoke-free Places (Tobacco Reduction) Amendment Act, 2007

Bill 45: Smoke-free Places (Tobacco Reduction) Amendment Act, 2007 Third Reading debate in the 26th Legislature of Alberta, 3rd Session by Ms. Laurie Blakeman, MLA Edmonton-Centre

Alberta Hansard – November 14, 2007

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This is a good day, I think, in the House when we’re able to see third reading of a bill like Bill 45. It’s so often referred to just as the smoking bill; we forget what the real name is: the Smoke-free Places (Tobacco Reduction) Amendment Act, 2007. I will quite likely repeat a number of the points that the Minister of Health and Wellness has already made because in many ways my progression through this has exactly mirrored his.

As the Speaker is aware, in second reading and in Committee of the Whole I was able to invite into the gallery members of the BLAST team from the Nellie McClung school in Oliver school in my constituency because they had been so instrumental in energizing their peers and colleagues in other BLAST teams in other schools to really get on this particular issue and follow it through. It was a great opportunity for me as a legislator to work closely with a younger group of people in teaching them about how important public advocacy and citizen representation is. I come from a social activist background, and I sometimes despair that that generation is no more. I was really excited by the reaction of the BLAST teams at Nellie McClung and also in other schools to jump onto this issue and really grab hold of it and run with it. I think it was a good experience for them. It was a good experience for me, and clearly the Minister of Health and Wellness also benefited from it.

I’m sorry that I can’t remember the names of the other schools that participated, but about six months ago, in the spring, on a fairly chilly day, there was a rally held on the steps of the Legislature by a number of different BLAST groups from different schools. Again, it was co-ordinated by the group from Nellie McClung. So those folks certainly recognize the effect that smoking certainly could have on them as probably they’ve seen the effect that it’s had on their parents.

We understand the numbers now of the effect that smoking can have on our health. We’re starting to be able to get some hard data about what it costs us in financial terms. I think that many of us for many years have understood the human toll that cancer, particularly lung cancer, can cause us.

I was going to talk about some important people. You lose them to lung cancer. I lost someone to lung cancer this summer, and it makes me angry. So I’m very grateful to see this bill. I’m very grateful for the people that worked on it. I wish it could have come sooner to save people that I loved. I know we all feel like that in here. I’m sorry to get emotional on you, but this kills people. It’s a human cost to our society. It’s a tremendous financial cost to our society. We have to do everything we can to be able to combat it. We’re legislators. We’re leaders. We should be able to do this work, and I’m glad we’ve done this work today.

Thank you to everybody that worked on it.