Those anti-smoking Canadians

I've been passed another link* to yesterdays story about a crackpot Canadian family who believe cigarette smoke from their neighbours yard is dangerous to their health.

This story is extremely bizarre, yet the craziest thing about it is the truly amazing things these people are willing to believe. Like this:

"When they're smoking there, it does not stop at the fence. It goes over and gets sucked right into our home," said Rena Krossa, whose townhouse in a new Maple Ridge subdivision sits less than three metres from her neighbours'.

I don't know how much their neighbours smoke, but hellfire, it must be an awful lot for that statement to be true.

Of course it isn't true though. I'm sure they believe that cigarette smoke is that potent, but it isn't.

"I'm totally feeling frustrated and helpless because I cannot keep my kids safe in their own home," she said.

Your kids are fine! Do you make them wear gas masks when outdoors, to protect them from all the other nasty stuff in the air?

Worrying like that will bring you out in hives.

Ernie Daykin, the mayor of Maple Ridge, says provincial and municipal bylaws are silent on the issue of smoking on patios or backyards.

"It's really difficult. How do you regulate somebody in their back yard?

Notice the language from the authority figure there?

Not, "We shouldn't regulate somebody in their backyard", but, "How do we....?"

The Mayor is actually taking these people on board. He would like to regulate, but can't. Yet.

It's not really difficult, it's very simple. You tell these muppets to get a life and stop wasting your time.

People feel they're over-regulated to begin with," Daykin said

Not "People are over regulated", but... Well, you get the point.

In a letter to Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Daykin, Wendell Krossa notes that his campaign is not about "picking on smokers" or interfering with their right to smoke in their own yards.

No. That's exactly what it's about. There can be no other reason for this. You hate smokers and you want your fifteen minutes in the papers.

Your arguments about the dangers of your neighbours smoking are obvious bollocks. This is about picking on smokers. Nothing more.

"To the contrary, this is about smokers violating non-smoker’s rights to a safe and healthy life. Smokers violate such rights by not taking proper care when expelling their toxins into other’s property and lungs," he wrote.

Tobacco smoke is not a toxin. Smokers are not 'expelling' it into your property and certainly not your lungs. When smoking in the open air, the smoke is almost instantly diluted and disappears.

Across the province, anti-smoking groups say at least 500,000 British Columbians are exposed to unwanted second-hand smoke in their homes.

Another made up and undisputed quote. With a population of 4.4 million in British Columbia, that's over ten percent of the population suffering from other peoples smoke making it into their homes.

The anti-smokers in Canada must be almost as loopy as our lot.

Vancouver lawyer Ron Usher says anti-smoking laws are not as clear as they should be.

The challenge for legislators, Usher said, is to balance the rights and freedoms of people on private property with the need to safeguard others from harm.

Smokers are not causing others harm. The antis just don't want to get that.



*Thanks to Ann W in the comments