Canada: Public Spaces Smoking Ban Delayed

Source from:  Niagara This Week (ca)  03/07/2013

Smokers will have to wait at least three more weeks to find out if they could soon be breaking the law by lighting up at beaches, parks, splash pads and a host of other public places in Niagara.
 
Regional staff were pushing to have a new bylaw banning smoking at all properties owned by the Region or local towns and cities by May 31—World No Tobacco Day. But on Tuesday, politicians on the Region's public health committee decided to put off voting on plans for the anti-smoking bylaw until their next meeting in three weeks.
 
Regional politicians gave staff the go-ahead last fall to proceed with work to create the bylaw, to forge ahead with public consultation and to work hand-in-hand with local towns and cities on the issue.
 
But some politicians on Tuesday expressed concerns about the proposed bylaw, which would require what's known as a triple majority—a tricky process in which the majority of regional council members, and the majority of the 12 cities and towns representing the majority of eligible voters from the last municipal election have to approve it.
 
The proposed bylaw would make smokers who light up outside at municipal parks, playgrounds, sports fields, arenas, recreational centres, beaches, pools, bus shelters and trails law-breakers. The bylaw would exclude roadways, municipal sidewalks, certain parking areas such as parking garages not adjacent to places such as arenas or parks, regional public housing, and certain municipal properties in which staff can't leave the property during work hours because of legislative or emergency response requirements.
 
But the bylaw would also exempt the Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls, which Welland Coun. George Marshall said might bother other cities pondering their own exemptions.
 
Niagara Falls Coun. Bart Maves thought wording should be added to the bylaw that would at least give towns and cities the option of building in their own exemptions for future projects such as convention centres.
 
But Dr. Andrea Feller, associate medical officer of heath, said allowing exemptions would make the entire process more costly and confusing. A big reason why the local towns and cities support the Region taking the lead on the public spaces smoking ban is because at present there's a confusing patchwork of local bylaws that leave people scratching their heads over where it's legal to smoke, she said.
 
St. Cathairnes Coun. Tim Rigby said the ban should apply even to the convention centre, while Welland Coun. Peter Kormos thought it should also apply to social housing where people living in multi-residential units are exposed to second-hand smoke wafting through heating and air conditioning systems.
 
Thorold Coun. Henry D'Angela said allowing smoking on sidewalks puts people at risk of second-hand smoke because some sidewalks are just steps from the front doors of places such as arenas. He also questioned how successful the ban would be, noting there are still people smoking inside change rooms in arenas despite a long-standing ban on smoking indoors.
 
"The only people who will follow this bylaw are the honest people," he said.
 
Feller said the smoking ban will help protect people from harmful second-hand smoke, reduces the chances that youth will take up the nasty habit, and will help smokers who want to quit butt out.
 
"We know the majority of smokers want to quit," she said.
 
If it eventually passes, the bylaw plan would see signs posted at many public places, informing people it's illegal to smoke.
 
While $250 fines could eventually be issues by bylaw enforcement staff for those who break the law, the plan calls for the initial phase of the ban to involve education.
 
Local towns and cities would still have the power to pass their own bylaws with even tighter restrictions on smoking in public places. Enditem