Saskatchewan is considering a ban on smoking on outdoor restaurant patios and in cars with children present. (The Canadian Press)

A proposal that would ban smoking on the outdoor patios of bars and restaurants is under fire from Saskatchewan's hospitality industry.

The Saskatchewan government is looking at updating its no-smoking law, and one of the changes would be a ban on patio smoking. While Saskatoon already has such a ban, Regina and other cities don't.

Health Minister Don McMorris told CBC News a proposal for a provincewide ban may be coming soon.

Tom Mullin, president of the Hotels Association of Saskatchewan, calls the plan unfair. The industry is still reeling from anti-smoking legislation brought in several years ago, which banned smoking in bars, he said.

Business dropped 25 per cent and has never fully recovered, he said.

Since hotel owners built outdoor patios as a response to that law, they should be allowed to continue to permit smoking there, he said.

Built for smokers

"We made the investment to cover off the smoking issue by building decks and having them outdoors and having our patrons having to go outside, so that should be enough," he said.

Meanwhile, anti-smoking advocates were hailing the proposed change, as well as a proposal to ban smoking in vehicles when there are children present.

Banning smoking on patios provincewide is a great idea, said Donna Pasiechnik, a spokeswoman with the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.

"Our concern, of course, is for the workers, working those patios and for the patrons who want to enjoy those patios just as much as smokers during the summer," Pasiechnik said. "I'm hearing more and more about people complaining that patios are not smoke-free."

The cancer society also wants pharmacies to stop selling cigarettes, she said.

The proposed new smoking law is expected to be introduced during the fall sitting of the legislature, which started last week and runs to early December.