Would you give your kid a pack of cigarettes to smoke?

Well, if you smoke a cigarette in a car containing a child, there's no real difference. "One hour of second hand smoke in a car is the same as giving kids an entire pack of cigarettes," said Canada's Premier Dalton McGuinty.

When parents smoke in cars with their children around, "the risk to their health is serious because of the confined space and because children breathe more air relative to their body weight," Peter Goodhand, CEO of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, told Canwest News.

Luckily, in Ontario, this serious form of child abuse may be on its way out in a matter of months: Legislators have introduced The Smoke-Free Ontario Amendment Act, which would prohibit smoking in any vehicle that contains a passenger under 16. Violators of the act would be subject to a $250 fine.

The legislation has yet to be turned into law, but whether it does or not, we hope parents will think twice about lighting up around their kids.