TORONTO – Ontario’s premier says the province would have to think hard before becoming Canada’s first to pass legislation banning smoking in cars while children are present.

But Premier Dalton McGuinty also said Monday that smoking in cars carrying young passengers is “reprehensible” given the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Bangor, Maine, has such an ordinance, and the Maine Legislature is expected to consider a statewide ban during the 2008 session. At least two states – Arkansas and Louisiana – have restrictions on smoking when children are in a vehicle, and several others have considered it.

In Canada, the town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, has banned smoking in cars where children are present. In Ontario, members of the Liberal Party didn’t promise to impose a ban before a recent election, and McGuinty ruled out the idea just a few months ago, calling it a slippery slope.

But as health advocates rally around a bill which would give police the right to pull people over for smoking in a car with passengers under the age of 16, McGuinty now says he’s open to the idea.

Private members’ bills rarely become law unless they are adopted by the government, but McGuinty said he’s going to stay neutral and hear what Ontarians have to say.