The Ontario Medical Association will skip smoker-friendly cities when deciding where to hold its lucrative general meetings, the group representing the province's doctors will announce today.

"Ontario doctors have been advocating for smoking bans in public places for the last number of years," OMA President John Rapin says in a statement. "We figured it was about time we start implementing our own policies that demonstrate our commitment to promoting anti-smoking initiatives."

In the statement, timed for today's World No Tobacco Day, he adds: "This step is a way of rewarding those communities that have the courage to ban smoking in public places."

The move, seen as a prod to the Ontario government's promise of a no-smoking ban by 2007, comes one day before Toronto implements the next phase of its smoking bylaw.

As of tomorrow, Toronto bars, casinos, billiard and bingo halls will be added to the list of no-smoking-indoor areas, although smokers will still be allowed to light up on outdoor patios and in designated smoking rooms.

Toronto public health board chairman John Filion said yesterday the OMA decision is positive.

"It's very important that groups that are interested in health promotion and who bring business to the city . . . state their views," he said. "Often you hear the other side."

Even though Toronto, unlike some jurisdictions, still offers the option of designated smoking rooms, the OMA measure may have no negative impact on the city's tourism.

That's because the doctors' group has contractual obligations to hold its general meetings in Toronto until 2006. However, the OMA will relocate its events after that date if smoking is still permitted in any public places.

By July of 2004 it is expected that 20 jurisdictions in Ontario will be smoke-free. Meanwhile, Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has promised to bring in legislation this fall that he says will be "one of the toughest and most comprehensive smoking bans in the world."

If passed, the legislation would take effect over the next three years, sounding the death-knell for designated smoking rooms.

Mr. Filion said that if the province falters on its no-smoking ban, Toronto Public Health has already agreed to seek city council approval to phase out designated smoking rooms by June 1, 2007.

By stepping up its campaign against smoking, the medical association hopes to convince cities that banning smoking is not only good for public health, it can also improve the health of the local economy.

The OMA general meeting is a two-day event that attracts as many as 1,000 doctors from across the province. Direct and indirect economic benefits have been estimated at nearly $1-million.

Several other associations have recently taken similar steps to support smoking bans in public places, including the Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Pediatric Society, Canadian Public Health Association and the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.

In addition to banning smoking in public places, the OMA advocates increasing the tax on cigarettes by $14 a carton, banning smoking ads and subsidizing stop-smoking medications.

World No Tobacco Day was created by the World Health Organization to encourage smokers to give up smoking and to raise public awareness about the health impact of tobacco. This year's theme is Tobacco and Poverty: A Vicious Circle. The WHO says studies across the world show that it is the poorest people who tend to smoke and who bear most of the disease burden.