More Canadian Outrage: Trucker Fined For "Workplace Smoking"

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

And there I was, thinking Canadians represented the sensible third of the North American continent. And then they go and blow it all by saying something stupid like “You’re nicked, mate!” Do Canadians say that? Do they call their cops “the plod?” Anyway, The Globe and Mail reports “an Ontario Provincial Police officer noticed the driver of a tractor trailer [not shown] was smoking a cigarette as he pulled up alongside the vehicle on Highway 401 outside Windsor . . . The policeman charged the 48-year-old trucker, who is from London, under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and public places.” As we like to say here in The Land of the Free, that’s some fucked-up shit. No, really. “Constable Shawna Coulter, a spokeswoman for Essex County OPP, said it is the job of police to enforce the law, no matter how unpopular. She also noted that smoking while driving is unsafe.” The trucking company’s defense is even less credible—and more convoluted.

The Smoke-Free Ontario Act does not apply to trucking companies that do business outside the province. Instead, they are covered by federal legislation that allows drivers to smoke in designated smoking vehicles. In addition, [Ontario Trucking Association spokesman Doug Switzer] said if the unidentified trucker owns his vehicle and is the only person who works in it, he can legally smoke in it, even under the Ontario law.

Excuse me sir, is that a designated smoking vehicle? Or do they have stickers? “Smoker on board.” No wait! Let me guess! You have to pay for a license for the “privilege” of smoking in your own truck. And then you get a sticker with a cigarette inside a red circle, without a line through it. The scariest thing about this Nanny state story: no one says the law is wrong. And that’s wrong. [thanks to ott for the link]

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Johnny Canada Johnny Canada on Oct 12, 2009

    It's a shame that the pendulum has to swing so far to the Left, before we're finally shaken from our collective comma.

  • Jmhm2003 Jmhm2003 on Oct 12, 2009

    The good constable probably did society a favour. The trucker was probably on is way to buy murder a prostitute!

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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