When Is Niagara Region Going To Have The Guts To Ban Indoor Tanning For Minors?

A Brief Comment by Doug Draper 

What is wrong with Niagara, Ontario’s regional government? Why does it seem to almost always be afraid of its own shadow when it comes to taking a stand on issues that are no-brainers?

Whether it is a lack of courage to do what the Region of Waterloo did more than five years ago – to build a real, viable regional transit system in a two-tier municipal system not all that different than Niagara’s or to at long last create an amalgamated economic development service for businesses that might want to locate and create jobs here – this regional council too often reacts like a deer caught in the headlights. And almost always, it is a paralyzing brand of parochialism – as in local fiefdoms refusing to work together because they view their interests as superseding the interests of the region as a whole – that get in the way. 

This time out, why hasn’t Niagara’s regional council already shown the courage that Oakville, Ontario’s council did this August 13 and approve a ban on indoor tanning for minors, meaning people under the age of 18.

To the credit of Niagara’s public health department, it circulated a powerful report to regional councillors two or three years ago, stressing the fatal impacts that tanning salons can have, especially on younger people. That report pointed out the fact that study after study has shown how much more vulnerable younger people can be to contracting the deadliest forms of skin cancer from baking themselves in tanning saloons, but our regional council never took the obvious next step and set a bylaw against minors having access to these facilities.

Well as of this August 13, the council of Oakville – a community with a reputation for being pretty conservative – has done what Niagara Region’s council could and should have done months, if not one or two years ago.

There is a private member’s bill on the table at Queen’s Park in Toronto to ban indoor tanning for minors province-wide. It was tabled by the NDP this spring and has received support from the Conservatives. For shame that the governing Liberal government has not yet said it will support it.

In the meantime, why doesn’t Niagara’s regional council at least follow Oakville’s lead and place a ban on an activity that is a known health threat? Or at a bare minimum , send a letter to the Ontario premier, urging him to support legislation to keep minors out of indoor tanking beds.

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