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Patio smoking ban talk extinguished
Sep 21 2007
By MARKUS ERMISCH Staff reporter
Like a lit cigarette hit by a raindrop, Arjun Singh’s idea to ban smoking on restaurant patios hissed and then died.
The city councillor said Tuesday he had made a “mistake” when, last week, he introduced a notice of motion to outlaw smoking on patios.
Singh now wants to consult with restaurants to gauge their interest in a smoking ban.
Coun. Peter Milobar, who has experience in running bars, urged Singh to not waste his time.
The position of restaurants, Milobar said, has been clear for a long time: they generally don’t support smoking bans.
A ban would mean renovations and the purchase of new equipment, such as patio heaters. Milobar said it’s an expense
restaurateurs would rather not incur.
Soliciting input from the Canadian Cancer Society would be equally futile, Milobar noted, because its position is clear as well: it would support the kind of ban Singh had proposed.
Singh conceded his colleague’s arguments, and said he’ll wait for the anti-smoking regulations the province is debating, and which will likely be discussed at this month’s U nion of B.C. Municipalities convention.
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Smoking snuffed in playgrounds, parks -BC

Jul 12 2007
By Chris Hamlyn The news Bulletin

Nanaimo parks, recreation, and culture commission wants a smoke-free environment for those enjoying the outdoors.

The commission endorsed a Canadian Cancer Society concept of eliminating smoking in specific outdoor areas such as playgrounds, sports fields, swimming beaches and water parks and instructed staff to begin the process of putting up signage.

Nancy Falconer, Community Action coordinator for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Vancouver Island Region, addressed the commission May 23, providing information on cancer and other smoking-related illnesses as well as environmental initiatives implemented to protect people from secondhand smoke.

“We’re thrilled the Nanaimo commission is endorsing smoke-free zones to discourage people from smoking and protect children and youth from secondhand smoke,” said Falconer.

“Signs in playgrounds and hopefully other outdoor areas denormalizes the behaviour and encourages people to quit smoking. It also sets a healthy model so fewer people start smoking.”

Richard Harding, director of parks, recreation and culture, said some areas are already signed for non-smoking but only where they are fenced or well defined such as the Altrusa playground at Beban Park or the entrance to the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre.

“We will be working with the cancer society to define some areas where we think there is an issue and we can create a scenario where people feel comfortable to be,” he said.

“We’re not trying to discourage smokers from being in our parks. We’re just trying to create some open space where people don’t have to be subjected to smoke.”

Harding said areas including Loudon Park at Long Lake and first beach at Westwood Lake are being looked at as smoke-free zones.

Salmon Arm, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Nelson, Kamloops and Williams Lake have implemented smoke-free zone signage at various outdoor areas.
online@nanaimobulletin.com
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Under new bylaw, no eating allowed in smoking areas -BC

July 07, 2007
Matt Kruchak, Times Colonist

Companies and employees forced to choose at outdoor spots

The next time you head to that table outside your workplace to eat your lunch, you might discover a "no eating" sign and the area reserved for smokers.

Or it may be the smokers who are banished.

Companies and their employees throughout Greater Victoria face the smoking-versus-eating dilemma thanks to amendments to the Capital Regional District's Clean Air Bylaw.

Although most of the attention has been on a ban on smoking on the patios of bars and restaurants, the bylaw doesn't allow smoking on workplace property where food and beverages are served or consumed. Brown bag or bought, it doesn't matter.

If a person smokes and drinks coffee at an outdoor spot at a workplace, they're breaking the bylaw. If a smoker is joined by someone eating an apple, the bylaw is enforceable. "It's anywhere basically where food or drink are consumed or served," said Dr. Richard Stanwick, the region's chief medical-health officer.

Businesses can either create designated areas for smokers where food and beverage is not allowed, or make a space smoke-free, he said.

Enforcement will largely be in response to complaints. Fines range from $50 for the offender and $100 for any company openly defying the bylaw, to a maximum of $2,000.

At J & V's Burger Stand, on the U-Pak Mobile Mini Storage property at the corner of Viewfield and Devonshire Roads in Esquimalt, owner Vicki Pugle provides an ashtray on one of three outdoor tables.

Pugle said as long as people are outside, they should be allowed to smoke. "If the customers want to fight about it, I'll watch," she said. "I'll take bets -- oh, that's illegal too."

Stopping for a bite to eat, Jeremy Brown stood smoking on U-Pak property. When told he could be ticketed for being in an area where people eat, he took a step back onto the street.

"I think that's retarded," said Brown, who sees himself as a respectful smoker who butts out when his smoking bothers someone. "I think they're getting ridiculous with the laws."

Dr. Del Pengelly, a non-smoking radiologist sitting at one of the tables, disagreed. "Some people on the property don't smoke, so why should they smell smoke?"

The first couple of weeks will be a transition period, Stanwick said, with the focus on education and helping businesses make changes. Regional district staff won't roam the streets looking for offenders, although complaints will be investigated.

"It's not the heavy hand -- we're not going to come down and slap a business with a fine," Stanwick said.

He said the Capital Regional District sent 1,200 businesses information packages, though the bylaw will affect thousands more.

Lloyd Gibson, owner of Gorge Auto Supply and a non-smoker, held his fourth annual neighbourhood barbecue for more than 400 people on his business's property Thursday. He called the new bylaw "crazy," and said he had no plans to create separate smoking and eating areas. "On the surface it sounds a little funny."

At the far end of Gibson's parking lot, a group of men was eating, with a couple of them smoking -- including Les Plomp who supports anti-smoking bylaws. "I feel more guilty smoking because it makes me feel like a loser," he said. "It's making me want to quit to fit in. That's why I started in the first place."

Stanwick said the no-smoking rules are no different from what's happening in the rest of the country. "If you go to Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon or anywhere in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, they've been making this work for more than a year," he said.

"This isn't something that's particularly novel. It's just going to be a matter of getting used to it and dealing with any glitches that arrive."
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Ferries targets smoking on outer decks -BC

May 12, 2007
Cindy E. Harnett, Times Colonist

Winds shift in sailing policies: Half of fleet to have designated areas by year's end

B.C. Ferries is imposing a partial smoking ban on the outside decks of its larger ferries before the end of the year.

Smoking is now permitted anywhere on the outside decks, although it's prohibited on car decks and interior areas. Under B.C. Ferries' plan, outdoor deck smoking will only be allowed in designated areas.

The change affects the 18 larger vessels -- half the fleet. Another plan is in the works for the smaller ships, which only have one deck.

"We're trying to balance the needs of our customers," Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries' spokeswoman, said yesterday. "We've heard from both sides. We want to keep all of our customers happy."

Marshall said the smoking policy will continue to be reviewed, and a total ban is possible eventually.

That's the option preferred by Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical health officer for the Vancouver Island Health Authority -- especially given the way winds shift on ferry decks.

Two or three smokers, even six metres away, can deliver a significant amount of tobacco smoke, said Stanwick. That dose of carcinogens will be more powerful depending on whether it's up- or downwind, he said.

If special smoking areas are created, B.C. Ferries needs to ensure they're kept well apart from the rest of the deck, said Stanwick, who once compared smoking areas to a "peeing area in a swimming pool."

"The critical thing is ensuring you get the separation."

How that separation would be achieved has yet to be determined, Marshall said.

In 1999, Stanwick introduced groundbreaking regulations banning smoking in Victoria's indoor public spaces. Capital region politicians extended the reach of the Clean-Air Bylaw this week when they banned smoking on outdoor patios at restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

The bylaw amendment has gone to the province for approval and is expected to be in force by July 1.

Stanwick can see total smoking bans being in place on ferry decks, sports fields, parks, playgrounds and beaches by the time the 2010 Olympics roll into Vancouver.

Critics of smoking on B.C. Ferries compare the vessel decks to a "floating patio" that should be bound by the same bylaw, but Stanwick said the ferries fall outside his jurisdiction.

The medical health officer has offered to help B.C. Ferries measure the amount of tobacco smoke coming from planned smoking areas.

Provincial legislation expected this month would ban outdoor smoking in or near public doorways and near windows and air intakes. New policies in the works would also reduce tobacco advertising in stores.
ceharnett@tc.canwest.com
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Tougher Smoking Ban for British Columbia Smokers

March 10, 2007

Smokers might as well kick the butt. There will be no escape into outdoor areas in eateries or distant patios, as the newly to- be- released bill of British Columbia hits the public.

The new anti smoking legislation introduced a few days back will ban smoking in all indoor public spaces as well as in public doorways, and 'near' the doors, windows and air intakes of any building accessible by the public.

Says Health Minister George Abbott: 'Some people will see it as intrusive, others will say we didn't go far enough. But I think we will have the great weight of public opinion supporting this.'

Tobacco sales will also be barred in public hospital and health facilities, universities and colleges, public athletic and recreational facilities and provincial buildings.

According to Abbott, the law will also ban the display of tobacco and related products in stores accessible to anyone under the age of 19.

This will put an end to 'power walls' of cigarettes and tobacco advertising, opines Abbott.

The B.C. government states that each year, tobacco use kills more than 6,000 people and costs the provincial economy $2.3 billion, while provincial taxes on tobacco account for only $700 million in annual revenue.

Says Finance Minister Carole Taylor,'There is no question that smoking is an enormous drain.

'The taxes we raise from cigarettes only pay a tiny part of the health care costs', she added. 

Medindia on Tasmanian Car Smoking Ban Sets Good Example For Other Governments

AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, today welcomed the decision by the Tasmanian Government to ban smoking in cars carrying anyone under 18.

AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, today welcomed the decision by the Tasmanian Government to ban smoking in cars carrying anyone under 18 years of age and to not allow the sale of fruit-flavoured cigarettes in the State.

Dr Haikerwal said both decisions set a good example to the other States and Territories.

“The car smoking ban is sensible and responsible,” Dr Haikerwal said.

“It removes another health hazard from our kids and will hopefully convince smokers to make their cars a total smoke-free zone or, better still, give up the killer habit totally.

“The fruit-flavoured cigarettes are another Big Tobacco trick that had to be outlawed.

“The AMA congratulates the Tasmanian Government for taking these major steps to rid our community of smoking and the harm it causes.

“We urge other governments to put in place similar legislation,” Dr Haikerwal said.

Medindia on Health Hazards of Smoking

Smoking is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Smoking still remains one of the leading cause of preventable death. Smoking has the dubious distinction of affecting all the systems from head to foot.

Smoking is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Smoking still remains one of the leading cause of preventable death. Smoking has the dubious distinction of affecting all the systems from head to foot.
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UVic votes no on smoking ban -BC

Feb 09 2007
By Amy Dove Oak Bay News

Students proposing a smoking ban for the University of Victoria campus are optimistic that no doesn’t really mean no.

The Tobacco Free Pro Health Committee proposed a ban which would limit smoking to parking lots on campus. It would also have stopped the sale of tobacco products at a campus bookstore. Those sales generate more than $16,000 annually.

The negative vote on the ban doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen, said Kaitlin Richardson, committee vice-president.

“It’s just a normal set back in advocacy. It’s coming whether it is this year, or next year, or a few years from now,” Richardson said.

The University of Victoria Student Society voted against the campus-wide smoking ban at their Jan. 29 meeting. Concerns were raised over financial loss, regulating smokers at the campus pub and safety issues with smoking in the parking lots at night.

The UVSS has formed a task force, comprised of Robert Obara, committee president and a society member to address smoking issues on campus. The committee plans to address board members’ concerns before presenting the policy again.
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You can still dine, smoke -BC

Feb 17 2007
By NEIL CORBETT Abbotsford News

The last restaurant in Abbotsford where diners can smoke will soon be asking its patrons to butt out.

Walking into the Dawn to Dusk Cafe is like strolling back into Abbotsford circa 1980, as smoke hangs in the air and there are ashtrays on the tabletops. Of the five tables with patrons, four have at least one customer with a fuming cigarette in hand.

No law is being broken at the Dawn to Dusk, because no law applies to the coffee shop.

The City of Abbotsford’s bylaw department confirms that the city does not have any regulations to stop smoking at a private business. That authority, they say, lies with the Worker’s Compensation Board of B.C.

WCB knows there is smoking going on at the Dawn to Dusk, but they have no power there.

“We are aware of the Dawn to Dusk restaurant, but they are simply not under our legal jurisdiction,” said Donna Freeman, a WorkSafe BC spokesperson.

The province’s occupational health and safety regulations apply at businesses and on job sites where employees are hired. That is not the case at the coffee shop, which is located on Bevan Avenue near the provincial Driver Services Centre.

“It is a family-run operation, therefore they do not meet the requirements in the Workers Compensation Act to be registered with us,” added Freeman. “They are not legally required to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

So it’s WCB who had to butt out.

The same is true for the Fraser Health Authority.

“We don’t have jurisdiction over smoking,” said Mike Bernard, a media relations spokesman with the health authority.

“Fraser Health does not have the power or ability to say to that owner ‘Thou shalt not . . .’”

So it appears that the restaurant owners can do what they like, and they have been.

“The question is, what do you do when these cases fall in limbo?” said Bernard. “I don’t know how many family (operated) restaurants there are.

“It begs the question, ‘what about the patrons?’”

On trips to the restaurant by Abbotsford News staff, most of the patrons appeared to be puffing away contentedly.

However, the owners of the Dawn to Dusk say the sun is setting on their liberal view of smoking.

Surinder Manchanda, has owned the restaurant with her husband Jagdish for nine years, and they have allowed smoking in their business throughout that time. But they have now set a deadline of March 31 as the last day they will have a smoking restaurant.

Surinder said some patrons complain to the business owners. Others will complain to WCB or the health authority, and their beefs get passed back to the business. What’s more, they do have regulars who don’t smoke.

And it’s not as if they are a family of smokers – other than the second-hand smoke they take in.

“We don’t smoke. My husband smokes sometimes, but not regularly,” Surinder said.

She admits she has worried about her family constantly working in second-hand smoke.

“It’s bad for us, but for a living we have to do something.”

She said visits from health authorities, and conversations with officials who want the Manchandas to change their store policy out of conscience have had an effect.

And, Surinder hopes that going non-smoking, like virtually every other restaurant in the province, may help business improve.

“Why not try it? The second-hand smoke is not good for us, we know that.”
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Smoking goes under fire again City proposes to ban lighting up outside public buildings -BC

Dec 19 2006
By Brooke Larsen, Black Press

White Rock is clearing the air outside city-owned buildings.

Council voted Monday to prohibit smoking within seven metres of the entrances of city-owned buildings, including City Hall, Centennial Arena, Kent Street Activity Centre and White Rock Library.

If approved by the provincial government early next year, White Rock’s smoking bylaw will be stronger than Surrey’s, which does not cover entranceways to public buildings.

Council shot down a proposal in October to ban smoking on patios after several pub and restaurant owners protested.

Coun. Catherine Ferguson, who voted against the smoking ban on patios, said prohibiting smoking in city entranceways sets a good example.

“It certainly will affect people who go in and out of our facilities,” she said before the meeting Monday.

“The city should look at their own business plan before they start telling businesses how to run their affairs.”

Coun. Matt Todd said other municipalities will likely follow White Rock’s lead.

“Even though it’s kind of minor, after this amendment passes, we will have the strictest smoking bylaw in B.C.,” Todd said, adding the bylaw change will help those who work at city-owned facilities.

“When you smoke at an entranceway, people who shouldn’t have to walk through smoke, end up breathing it in to get inside.”

Anne Kaukinen, who visits Centennial Arena every week with her children, said she supports the bylaw change.

“This is a place where children are coming and going. Smoking just doesn’t fit in with that,” she said.

Paul Grewal, who works in the arena, also lauded the proposed bylaw change, saying parents often smoke outside the arena while waiting for their children.

The Canadian Cancer Society has offered to contribute some of the $20,000 needed for the change. Included in that cost are signs and advertisements to let residents know of the plans, and new garbage cans that do not have ashtrays.

City staff will also research ways to ban smoking at the White Rock Museum and Archives, as well as public washrooms and the tourist information booth at the waterfront.

Both Surrey’s and White Rock’s bylaws forbid smoking in malls, restaurants and other public buildings but allows smoking on patios. Surrey’s bylaw doesn’t not deal with smoking in entranceways of public buildings.

Breaking White Rock’s current smoking bylaw carries fines of $25 to $75 for a first offense, and up to $2,000 for repeated offenses. The bylaw is expected to take effect early next year.
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The politics of smoking -BC

By THOMAS LAPRADE
November 17, 2006

Re Northern Residents Fuming Over Smoking Ban (B.C. and online editions--Nov. 13)It is clear that the separation of smokers and non-smokers combined with air- exchange technology is a complete solution to this largely artificial problem.

All it takes is for regulating authorities to set the standards for indoor air quality on passive smoke, and the technology does the rest.

Such air quality standards are common in industrial and environmental context.

But, to date, no country in the world has set them for smoking areas.

It seems clear that the reasons are not scientific, nor are they economic or technical; they are political.

THOMAS LAPRADE
Thunder Bay, Ont.
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Northern residents fuming over smoking ban -BC

PETTI FONG POSTED ON 13/11/06

Impending halt to indoor smoking impractical in colder regions, critics say

PRINCE GEORGE -- In the Prince George Hotel pub, the separation between smokers and non-smokers goes far beyond the four rooms off to the side where patrons can puff.

It's also a division marked by geography, a cultural split between the smokers of northern British Columbia and the anti-tobacco mood that prevails in the Lower Mainland to the south.

The smokers here want their right to continue smoking inside, a practical decision in the north where temperatures can reach -30 C.

After years of fighting and a truce with pub and hotel owners over smoking indoors, Premier Gordon Campbell announced recently that the province is going to ban smoking in all public indoor spaces.

"The people down south can't understand us. They never have and it's starting to really get to me," said smoker Leslie Christenson during an afternoon beer break in the pub. "It's discrimination, in my opinion. That sounds weird, but what do they have down there, rain? We have snow. We have winter. We're not going to stand outside to have our smoke."

Mr. Christenson said policy makers in Victoria and the powerful voices in the Lower Mainland drown out any discontent that smokers like himself in the north express.

When pub owner Ted Coole heard the Premier's plans for the ban, he saw his $100,000 investment in smoking rooms at his Prince George Hotel go up in smoke.

Pub owners worked out a deal with the government and the Workers' Compensation Board of B.C. in 2001 to restrict the time employees worked in the specially ventilated spaces where smokers were allowed to light up.

Mr. Coole, who set up four such rooms in his pub, with $40,000 fans that activate every eight minutes to wipe out the smoke, said he knows that an outright ban won't stop people smoking. It will, like his expensive fans, just disperse the smokers and his customers.

"There's hypocrisy in place when you talk about a smoke-free society. Government continues to enjoy the taxes from cigarettes and now they're imposing this ban on small operators," Mr. Coole said.

He is also a director of the Alliance of Beverage and Licensee Association of British Columbia, which represents about 2,400 pub and hotel owners around the province who donated $600,000 to the provincial Liberals before the last election.

"We know we're up against a tough issue here. Smoking is a phenomenon that has worldwide opposition. Yet we continue to legalize it."

Mr. Coole said he hopes petitioning and lobbying could persuade the government to change its mind and allow pubs like his, which have been outfitted with smoking rooms, to be grandfathered and exempt from municipal laws.

That has been another worry for pub owners. Mr. Coole said he's not heard yet about banding together with fellow owners in places such as the Lower Mainland to encourage the government to flip back on its position. Those in the Lower Mainland believe they will eventually be forced to go smoke-free because of municipal bylaws, regardless of a provincewide ban, he said.

But northern cities like Prince George have already won that battle. Smoking rates are higher than the provincial average here and Councillor Murry Krause, who failed three years ago to ban smoking citywide, believes he knows why.

"There's a bit of a frontier mentality here. We end up with very creative people because they've had to be. Very hardworking people because they've had to be," Mr. Krause said. "The stats show: We smoke more, we drink more. More people die from accidents here. More people work in dangerous jobs."

The proposed citywide ban failed because it became an emotional issue for residents, he said.

First Leader pub owner Cameron Thun said his employees are losing sleep over what will happen when smoking is banned.

In 2001, a ban was in place for three months after the WCB said employees could not work in indoor spaces where there was smoking. Mr. Thun laid off all his workers and, with his wife, ran his small pub.

Because they were owners and not workers, Mr. Thun said they were exempt from the ban and worked 38 days non-stop on four hours of sleep a night until other pubs, which were losing too much business due to the smoking edict, began allowing customers to smoke again.

"The biggest difference here, which would seem obvious, is the temperature. It's two different worlds, Vancouver and Prince George," Mr. Thun said. "They can put heated patio lanterns out and smokers may get a bit wet from the rain. But they can still be out there smoking. We can't do that here."

Mr. Campbell said he has no plans to back down from the ban, set to begin in 2008. Even the territories have a smoking ban, he said, and they're further north than Prince George.

"Clearly the world is changing. I understand the challenges people may feel they face in different facilities. We can't look at the information that we know is there and not take action," he said.

There will be no compensation for pub owners who spent thousands on smoking rooms, Mr. Campbell said, saying the two-year timeline is enough time to allow owners to amortize their investment.

Bartender and university student Nick Jewitt, who moved to Prince George from Ottawa six months ago, said a ban in that city curbed his habit.

"When they banned smoking in Ottawa, I smoked half as much as I used to," Mr. Jewitt said. "As much as I like to complain about anti-smoking laws, they did make me stop smoking as much."

That's exactly the point of the smoking bans, said Lorna Medd, the medical health officer for Northern Health.

"Places that have winters like we do, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Nunavut, have all gone 100-per-cent smoke-free," she said.

Provincially, smokers make up 17 per cent of B.C.'s residents and that number is higher by almost one-third in the north.

Among the significant aboriginal population in Prince George, the percentage of smokers is nearly three times as high as the non-aboriginal population. Jan Tatlock, manager of public health for Carrier Sekani Family Services, which has about 10,000 aboriginal clients from 11 neighbouring bands around the city, said between 65 to 80 per cent of youths and adults in the aboriginal community are smokers. Ms. Tatlock said she's ambivalent about the total ban on smoking indoors. The ban on smoking in restaurants has not significantly reduced the number of smokers, she said, but has increased the amount of butts on sidewalks.

"Certainly people shouldn't be smoking. However, I'm not sure how effective it's going to be to get people to quit smoking. There's a wider problem and telling people they can't smoke is not going to be able to stop the addiction."

Cigarettes are cheaper on reserves because they're not taxed. There are no widely implemented smoking bans there, even though some buildings, like band offices, have been declared smoke-free.

Aboriginal youths as young as nine years old smoke, mainly out of boredom and even more passively because it's not discouraged by their parents, she said.

While smokers worry about the cold, Ms. Tatlock, who is not a smoker, said she's thinking about the impact the bans will have on the outdoors. Surrounded by trees sucked dry by the mountain pine beetle, she said Prince George is at risk of forest fires started by cigarette butts.

"The more people you have outside smoking, the more likely that's going to happen."
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New rules strip away choice -BC

Nov 15 2006

There is a fine line between protecting people's health and encroaching upon the freedom of choice enjoyed by others, and I think Premier Gordon Campbell crossed that line when he announced his plans to make every indoor public area smoke-free.

Before I get too much further I feel it is only fair to give you, the reader, my personal experience with smoking. I don't smoke, I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and quite frankly I don't plan to smoke one anytime soon. The inclination to light up a smoke has never come to me and so I have chosen not to.

That being said, my dad is a smoker and has been for over 30 years now.

Under the current system, everybody had a choice. Smokers had the choice of sitting with their non-smoking friends and going into the smoking room as needed to get their fix. Non-smokers had the choice of enjoying the smoke-free environment or sitting in the smoking section to spend time with their friends.

Now smokers and non-smokers have no choice: Those who smoke have to physically remove themselves from the premises and pull themselves away from their environment to have a smoke.

I understand the reason for banning cigarettes from indoor establishments: protecting the health of those who work in the establishment. But that again has to do with choice. Anyone who applies for a position in a pub or bar knows that they may be exposed to second hand smoke, and they can choose to pursue the job or not.

This also removes the choice of the establishment owner about the type of establishment they wish to run and the clientele they wish to service, and it takes away their freedom of empire to a large extent.

Likewise, this is not something that people were clamouring for or knocking on the doors of the legislature to get. I think, for the most part, everyone was happy with the system we have in place, so why does Mr. Campbell feel the need to impose his will on the people of the province?

Smoking is a choice, as is not smoking. Whether or not to work in an establishment where you will be exposed to second hand smoke is a choice. Running an establishment that permits smoking is also a choice. These are all choices that we as adults can make, and I see absolutely no reason for the government of the day to step in and strip away our right to make these choices.
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Smoking rooms history in 2008 -BC

Nov 08 2006
By Phil Melnychuk Staff Reporter

Those high-price ventilation systems that sucked out cigarette smoke from bars and pubs get tossed into the dust bins of history in 2008.

That's when B.C.'s ban on all smoking in public indoor places takes effect.

MLA Randy Hawes isn't making any apologies for the Saturday announcement, even though it again will cost pubs and bars in renovation costs.

"Every time we've consulted [with the bar or pub industry] the economic interest is pushed really hard.

"There is no economic argument in something that causes cancer," Hawes said.

Smoking rooms, which were required in the last change in B.C. smoking regulations in 2000, work OK, but servers still have to enter them. And if you're a non-smoker among smokers, you're going to end up in the smoking section," Hawes said.

The change is going to hurt, said Al Arbuthnot, who owns the Fox's Reach Pub and Grill.

"It would certainly impact us," he said.

Every time the government clamps down on smoking, business drops and it takes a couple of years to recover, he said.

Arbuthnot, who's about to become president of the Association of Beverage Licencees, said his group hasn't heard a word from the government on its plans.

"As far as I'm concerned, if they're going to take it to that, I strongly suggest they just not allow smoking.

"Make smoking illegal and you just solve the problem once and for all."

When smoking sections were required in 2000, he spent $35,000 to create a 50-seat smoking section. Arbuthnot has been fighting the tighter rules on smoking for years and wonders why his business has to suffer when it already pays higher sales tax.

But Hawes said B.C. is behind five other provinces in banning smoking indoors, adding the last time rules were tightened many bar operators said they would go out of business.

But parts of the country where smoking has been banned show business grows as the smoke clears and non-smokers return to drinking.

"The potential market is on the upside, not on the downside."

Hawes said the new law will be enforced in the same way staff deal with people who drink too much. If they don't leave, police are called. Similarly, bars don't allow people to do drugs either, he added.

Operators who refuse to comply should have their licences suspended, he said.

Cory Wright, owner of Houston's and the Witch of Endor pubs on Dewdney Trunk Road, accepts the new law, providing it applies to all pubs.

"Everybody's going to have to adjust," he said.

"Time will tell, definitely."

He's also heard reports from U.K. visitors that no smoking rules in pubs there have increased business.

He'll have to remove a smoking room in the Witch that holds about 40 seats when the new law takes effect.

However, when he bought the pubs about two years ago, Houston's, formerly the Office pub, didn't have any smoking section and he didn't put any in expectation of the new law.

Instead, people just smoke outside on the patio.

"For us, it works fine."

Saturday, Premier Gordon Campbell also announced that as of next September, smoking will be banned on all school property, putting an end to the outdoor smoking pits for teens.

The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district has already banned smoking on school grounds.

School boards have allowed smoke pits on school grounds on the premise it's safer to have kids smoking on school property rather than roving the streets.

"Sixteen and 17-year-olds leave the school sometimes at noon anyways," Hawes said.

And many kids are smoking there without the permission of their parents, he added.
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B.C. to ban smoking in public places: Campbell

Nov. 4 2006

PENTICTON, B.C. -- B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says his government will ban smoking in most public places, including schools and hospitals.

Campbell told about 1,000 delegates Saturday at the B.C. Liberal Party's convention that banning smoking is one way his government plans to improve the health of British Columbians and reduce health costs.

Smoking on all school property, both public and private, will be prohibited by next September, he said.

The public smoking ban will take effect in 2008, giving businesses and institutions time for implementation, Campbell said.

"We're not talking about what people can do in their homes, nor what people can do in their hotel rooms,'' he said. "But the time has come to put an end to smoking in indoor public spaces in British Columbia.''

Seven provinces and two territories already have similar anti-public smoking legislation in place, Campbell said.

Many B.C. municipalities already have sweeping anti-smoking bylaws in effect that prohibit smoking indoors.

The city council in the Vancouver suburb of White Rock voted down a plan this week to ban smoking in outdoor restaurant patios and bars. But the White Rock council still plans to proceed with a bylaw on Jan. 1 that prohibits smoking near entrances to public buildings. Restaurant patio smoking bans are being considered in the Vancouver suburbs of Richmond and Delta, as well as several Victoria-area communities.

Campbell also said his government will remove junk food from all vending machines in publicly-owned buildings by next spring, including hospitals. The government has already committed to removing junk food from schools.

Campbell said the vending machines will stocked with "healthy food, not junk.'' The anti-smoking measures echo the latest wave of smoking restrictions in other provinces, notably Quebec and Ontario, which have banned smoking in most public places.

Last June 1, smoking became illegal in Quebec restaurants, bars, private clubs, bingo halls and casinos, along with all other facilities open to the public.

The Quebec law also forbids smokers from lighting up within nine metres of any doorway leading to a health or social services institution, college, university or child-care facility.

In May, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act prohibited smoking in all workplaces and enclosed spaces open to the public.

The Ontario law also bars smoking on patios with roofs. Campbell's speech also focused on his government's plans to forge stronger economic ties with Asian markets, especially those in China and India. British Columbia, with its close proximity to Asia and long-standing cultural ties to China and India, must take advantage of a huge marketplace, he said.

"The Pacific advantage is ours,'' said Campbell. "We simply need to reach out and to grasp it.''

He laid out what he called his government's Pacific Leadership Agenda.

"It's a vision for British Columbia that asserts a new role for us in our country and that calls us to reach higher,'' Campbell said.

It includes reaching out to aboriginals, improving the sustainability of health care, developing stronger communities, offering more education opportunities and focusing on Pacific markets.

He signalled his government will encourage more people from Canada, the United States and overseas to settle in British Columbia to increase the skilled workforce.