It may be easier to answer the question “where is smoking allowed?”

According to the Tobacco Act, the only places where smoking is allowed are:

• Outside, except on elementary and high school grounds or less than nine metres from certain places (see questions that follow);
  
• In private residences (except in certain cases, for example, if you are running a daycare in your home);
  
• In private vehicles (except if they are vehicles used for work and carrying more than one person, such as a taxi);
  
• On open patios and terraces;
  
• In a smoking room of an accommodations establishment (hotel, hostel, inn, motel, outfitter, etc.);
  
• In a room of a seniors residence, psychiatric institution, emergency shelter or CHSLD (residential and long-term care centre), but only if you are a resident;
  
• In a designated smoking room, with certain conditions (see questions that follow);
  
• In cigar lounges.

That’s it!

Everywhere else, including almost all enclosed spaces or semi-enclosed spaces in which you find people, are non smoking spaces. Examples include: restaurants, bars, bingo halls, schools, cégeps, hospitals, daycares, tents, big tops, arenas, pools, common areas of prisons, bus shelters, youth centers, workplaces, etc.

Yes. No one is allowed to smoke within a nine metre (about 30 feet) radius of all doors of:

• A health or social services centre (hospital, CLSC, etc);
  
• A cégep, a university, a technical school or adult education centre;
  
• A childcare centre (including one that is located in a private residence);
  
• A place where community or recreational activities take place.

But, if the property beyond the doors is smaller than the nine metres radius, it is the property line (where the property ends) which then becomes the limit.

As mentioned in the last question, no one is allowed to smoke on the grounds of elementary and high schools, regardless of how far away they are from the building doors. Furthermore, since the goal of this measure is to prevent young people from smoking and from being exposed to tobacco use, some people support that it should also be prohibited to smoke in a car parked in a parking lot located on school grounds.

You may be fined from $50 to $300 for a first offence and from $100 to $600 for a repeat offence. It is considered a new offence if the behaviour continues for more than one day.

Smoking in a prohibited location breaks a provincial law. It is not a criminal offence and you will not have a criminal record.

No. Bar and restaurant owners cannot let you smoke even in such a situation. By doing so, they are breaking the law and they risk a fine, as do the people smoking.

Also, bar owners have the right to build a shelter or other marked off space outside of their business in order to allow their clients to smoke. No other activity can happen in this space and it cannot be connected, even indirectly, to the bar.

Even so, municipalities have the power to pass separate bylaws prohibiting these shelters.

Yes and no. For example, designated smoking rooms are strictly forbidden in childcare centres, elementary schools, high schools, places which accommodate tourists, etc.

But, designated smoking rooms are allowed in seniors residences, psychiatric and long term care centres, emergency shelters and homeless shelters. These smoking rooms can only be used by persons staying in these facilities.

In other locations, existing smoking rooms will be tolerated until May 31st 2008, but only for the managers and employees who work there. Clients cannot have access to these rooms.

Also, existing smoking rooms must respect precise rules. For example, they must be closed off by barriers or walls from floor to ceiling, they must have a ventilation system and the door that provides access to the smoking room must close automatically.

Cigar lounges are places, which may or may not be open to the public, which are specially set up for cigar and pipe tobacco smoking.

Cigar lounges are legal if certain conditions are met:

• The lounge must have opened before May 10th, 2005;
  
• It must have generated at least $20,000 in revenues in 2005;
  
• No food can be served at a cigar lounge;
  
• No one can smoke cigarettes in a cigar lounge;
  
• No one under 18 can be allowed inside a cigar lounge.

The same rules apply to lounges where clients smoke flavoured tobacco in a hookah (water filtered pipe).

The sale of tobacco is only allowed at a tobacco retail outlet, which is a business holding a tobacco sales permit.

Tobacco retail outlets are prohibited in many places: hospitals, educational institutions, childcare centres, sites of cultural activities, bars, pubs, brasseries, restaurants, and businesses that have a pharmacy.

Cigarette vending machines are now completely prohibited, regardless of where they are located.

The merchant:

• must post a notice that tobacco cannot be sold to minors and a warning of the harmful effects of tobacco on health;
  
• cannot display tobacco or tobacco packaging in public view;
  
• cannot do any promotions related to tobacco products (free samples, gifts in exchange for the purchase of a tobacco product, etc.);
  
• cannot reduce the sale price on the basis of the quantity of tobacco;
  
• etc.

No. No one can sell tobacco to a minor. Not only that, but remember that only merchants who have a tobacco sales permit can sell tobacco to an adult.

Relatives, friends, well intentioned passers-by or negligent employees who sell tobacco to a minor can be fined from $100 to $300 and double these amounts for repeat offences. A minor who sells a cigarette to another minor can be fined a maximum of $100.

Fines are more severe for merchants: fines for first offences range from $500 to $2000 and fines for repeat offences can range from $1000 to $6000.

The law does not forbid a person other than a merchant from giving a cigarette to a minor, other than on school grounds.

Inspectors appointed by the Minister of Health and Social Services or by the municipality enforce the Tobacco Act. These inspectors investigate offences under the Tobacco Act and issue tickets.

The inspectors appointed by the Minister of Health and Social Services are assisted by assistant inspectors. Assistant inspectors visit different locations and businesses “under cover.” If they observe that the Tobacco Act is not being respected, they do not intervene but report their observations to the inspectors.

There is also a free hotline open to anyone who would like to report offences under the Tobacco Act: 1-877-416-8222.