Analysis of factors related to development, regulatory level and change in municipal no-smoking by-laws in Ontario.

OBJECTIVES This study explored and measured the presence, content and growth of municipal no-smoking by-laws and examined factors related to differences in by-law breadth and comprehensiveness. METHODS By-laws from each jurisdiction across Ontario were collected and scored relative to their breadth and restrictiveness using the Asbridge-O'Grady Index. Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance was used to compare the distributions of municipal characteristics among the regulatory level of municipal smoking legislation. RESULTS Twenty-three percent of Ontario municipalities (215/951) had enacted smoking by-laws by the end of 1998 compared to 18% (169/951) in 1994. Larger municipalities tend to be significantly more restrictive than smaller municipalities. CONCLUSION No-smoking legislation has become more extensive and restrictive in Ontario since the passage of the 1994 Tobacco Control Act. There was little legislative variability among the regions that contained tobacco-producing municipalities and those that did not.