White Rock took a step toward becoming truly smoke-free this week, when city council agreed to study a proposed ban on all tobacco sales in the Vancouver suburb.

The decision came as a pleasant surprise to Coun. Matt Todd, who proposed the ban but said he fully expected it to get shot down.

Instead, council passed a motion to have the city's social and economic development committees investigate the feasibility of banning tobacco sales or further restricting smoking in White Rock.

Todd said the issue "just exploded" in terms of the public, with many people offering their support.

"I got tons of calls and e-mails from people who are asthmatics or just allergic to cigarettes or had family members die from smoke, or were cancer researchers or worked in cancer wards.

"Clearly this is a public dialogue that people are wanting to have."

If  White Rock goes ahead with a ban, it would become the first Canadian municipality to ban the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products.