Welcome, taxpayers, to Premier Dalton McGuinty's Politically Correct Ontario. A place where regulation is more important than reality. A no-junk food, no-pit bull, soon-to-be no-smoking and gender-neutral world - for which taxpayers end up footing a bigger and bigger bill.

Topping the government's list of politically correct priorities is Bill 164, which will ban smoking in bars, pubs, bingos and even legion halls. If the image of an eighty-year old war veteran forced to smoke outdoors in -40○ C weather doesn't inspire enough disgust, consider that the ban could cost the Ontario hospitality industry $1 billion in lost revenue, according to a new study from the Pub and Bar Coalition of Ontario (PUBCO). That's $1 billion which could employ thousands of workers and pump millions of dollars in taxes into the province's hospitals, schools and infrastructure.

There is no question that cigarettes are bad for you, and that smokers would be healthier if they quit. But there's no indication this new ban will inspire legions of them to kick the habit. What it will do is boot the hospitality industry in the shins, at a time when it has barely recovered from the impact of SARS.

Had the government done its homework, it could have found another solution, such as the ventilated smoking rooms proposed by PUBCO and the Fair Air Association of Canada. Such rooms are in use in British Columbia, where a compromise was adopted which satisfied bar owners, the Workers' Compensation Fund (responsible for worker safety) and the bar-going public. (Ironically, at the same time as it proposes to ban smoking, the Ontario government is dropping $400 million to upgrade the Windsor Casino. How many gamblers will want to patronize smoke-free casinos is anybody's guess; even the provincial Economic Development Minister concedes, "There is going to be an impact, there's no denying that.")

As further proof that the McGuinty government is bad for business, consider another Liberal brainchild, the pet project of backbencher Lorenzo Berardinetti. His private member's bill will ban "gender-based pricing" for services such as haircuts and dry cleaning. That's right - the price police may soon visit your local salon to ensure women don't pay more for a hairdo than men, despite the fact that they generally spend more time in the stylist's chair.

Berardinetti was inspired by a consumer protection law from California, which resulted, interestingly enough, from a complaint by a man that his local car wash ran a "Ladies' Day" offer to clean women's cars for free. Thanks to that law, California hairdressers must offer "gender-neutral" pricing for basic cuts or face fines. Laundries must use industry-prescribed "compliance kits" to ensure that they don't take customers to the, ahem, cleaners. And women have to drive to Nevada to get a free car wash.

It's all a waste of time and money for businesses and taxpayers. Undoubtedly, additional compliance costs get passed on to all purchasers, male and female alike. And taxpayers pay to draft, implement, and enforce the new regulations, which in Ontario will include the cost of bringing complaints before the provincial Human Rights Commission.

Could Premier McGuinty be using these politically correct policies to deflect attention from his government's economic failings Like the fact the province is facing a $6 billion deficit, and taxes are higher than they've been in a decade Sadly, the odds are pretty good. These laws aren't about pricing or smoking - they're hiding the fact that the government is unable or unwilling to tackle the real issues of the day. Let's hope that taxpayers aren't taken in (again) by Mr. McGuinty's smoke and mirrors.