Government Hypocrisy: A Continuing Story

You have to love government in all its forms! Especially the ones who like to state everyone, including it, is equal under the law. When in actuality it is far from thed truth. The latest example of this comes from the province of Ontario, Canada and the Dalton McGuinty Liberal government that runs it.

The Government of Ontario is big on health (or so they wish their constituents to believe). One of its main focuses is to make the province smoke free. They have incrementally passed law after law banning smoking in place after place on the basis of protecting non-smoker's health.

When the Smoke Free Ontario Act came into effect in June of 2006, the province had achieved something that many places in the world ( that wish to make a smoke free environment for its citizens) could only envy, namely a ban on smoking inside any enclosed workplace. The bars and restaurants of the province were up in arms about the lost revenue they would incur. But for the health of workers and non-smokers alike the government stood their ground.

But then suddenly, there appears a problem on the horizon. The financial reports came in from the government casinos and revenues were down. Gamblers of Ontario who smoke are discarding their loyalties to their province and country by crossing borders into Mohegan and Quebec to take advantage of the less stringent rules on smoking. The bar and restaurant owners rejoiced knowing that they were not alone, the government now knew how they felt.

But wait, the government pondered, "We can't lose revenue because of a law we enacted. That makes no sense! It's time to change the rules! Let's allow smoking rooms in our casinos. We'll mask our hypocrisy by comparing our casinos, which serve food and alcohol, to factories and offices rather than to bars and restaurants which are in the same hospitality industry. If the people see through our smokescreen we'll confuse them further by telling them that workers don't have to enter these rooms as they would in a restaurant or bar and therefore public health is not detrimentally affected."

It's nice to see the government has such a heighten opinion of itself that it will allow its small business owners to think of it in such a light. Even if it is in the best interest of Ontarians that the government continue to bring in revenue for the funding of programs (if we ignore the gambling addicts casinos create that is), it is still bad policy to have one rule for government and another for its people. Equality under the law is a basic civil right or has McGuinty and his party forgot that?

FS Staff

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