More Ban Damage from Canada
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Bars take hit as noose tightens on smoking in public -AB
January 2, 2009 8:02 AM
By Renata D'Aliesio
Businesses say they're seeing fewer customers
Strathmore Hotel owner Greg Whiteley has trimmed his bar staff and cut back on entertainment since the province banned smoking cigarettes in public places and work sites a year ago.
He figures business is down about a third at the venerable establishment. He no longer sees some former regulars, who are smoking and drinking at home instead, while smokers who remain often aren't staying as long because they can't light up with their pint at hand.
"The worst part is I still have the same non-smokers. I haven't seen one new non-smoker. Where's the 80 per cent (of non-smokers) I was supposed to see?" Whiteley quizzed as another typical Tuesday evening unfolded. About a dozen people were in his bar, compared with three times as many before the provincewide smoking ban.
When Alberta's Tobacco Reduction Act kicked in last year, the new law transformed the province from a smoker's haven to a leader in limiting where people can smoke.
The legislation's final phase took effect Thursday. Stores that sell prescription drugs will no longer be allowed to sell cigarettes, unless they have gas bars, erected mall kiosks or created separate enclosed spaces for smoke sales.
Tobacco sales have also been outlawed at health-care facilities and post-secondary schools.
While many bars, bingos and casinos contend they've taken a significant financial hit because of the smoking ban, it's been business as usual at some restaurants.
Okotoks' In Cahoots Bar and Grill welcomed the provincial law forcing it and its competitors to go smoke-free, said manager Esther Vanderermeulen.
Staff spent last New Year's Day scrubbing away smoke smells and stains. The entire restaurant was repainted.
"Everybody loves it -- customers, even people who smoke," she said. "They say they enjoy the fresh air."
The economic impact of Alberta's smoking restrictions appear to vary, depending on the community and type of business. A 2004 report by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, an industry organization which has advocated for separate ventilated smoking rooms, found that smoking bans led to revenue declines ranging from 10 to 16 per cent, felt largely by bars, nightclubs and pool halls.
In a recent quarterly update, Gamehost Income Fund, which owns several Alberta casinos, cites the province's smoking ban -- and the fact that, under federal rules, smoking is allowed at First Nation casinos -- as factors leading to lower revenues at some facilities. The faltering economy is also playing a role.
Bingo halls have also experienced a drop in customers.
Don Henderson, chief operating officer of Bingo Alberta, an industry association, said some bingo operators remain angry at the provincial government for eliminating ventilated smoking rooms, driving away as many as a quarter of their customers, according to industry figures.
"There's no question it's had an effect," Henderson said of the smoking ban. "But I can't imagine it will be turned back here. It's something we can't control. We have to find another way to grow our business."
Alberta bingos were already struggling to attract new players when last year's provincial smoking ban arrived.
Today, there are 34 bingo venues in Alberta, compared with 57 about six years ago. When the fiscal year ends in March, Henderson expects bingo revenues will fall below $25 million from about $60 million earlier in the decade.
Bingo Alberta is studying its options and lobbying the province for help. Possibilities include expanding bingo halls into gaming entertainment centres, which would include video lottery terminals.
VLTs are also on the wish list of bar owners in Rocky Mountain House, about 80 kilometres east of Red Deer.
Brad Christensen, owner of Rookie's Lounge, believes VLTs would help offset the smoking ban's negative impact on profits. He estimates his bar has lost about 30 to 40 per cent of its business.
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One year smoke-free - Legislation banning smoking in public buildings has taken its toll -AB
Posted Jan 5, 2009
CHRISTOPHER MILLS - Herald-Tribune staff
The New Year is a time for celebration, but also a time for reflection. A time to look back on the past year and figure out what worked and what didn’t.
On Jan. 1, 2008, provincial legislation banning smoking in public buildings came into effect. People were also prohibited from smoking within five metres of any public building or workplace.
A year later, it’s time to assess how effective the legislation has been and the toll it has taken on public establishments.
As was predicted, most businesses that previously allowed smoking experienced an initial decline in sales and business, but owners only attributed some of that to the smoking ban. They also attributed it to the declining economy.
“Initially everyone (experienced a decline) after it started, but compare economies from year to year; this year was definitely slower than last year,” said John Kriska, owner of Better Than Fred’s.
“We dropped 25 per cent as soon as January hit,” said Charles Rodgers, owner of the Crown and Anchor. “Our sales were down, but only half was the smoking legislation. Half was the economic downturn.”
Ava Dale, northern Alberta spokeswoman for Action on Smoking and Health, said the legislation has been a success because tobacco sales have been declining for two consecutive years and the total projected tobacco revenue for the 2008 fiscal year is $50 million short.
“The Tobacco Reduction Act – the Cadillac of tobacco legislation – it’s a direct result of that,” she said. “We’re de-normalizing cigarettes. It’s not the normal thing to do anymore. The use of tobacco, it’s like a sore thumb.”
Dale even went as far as to suggest that the legislation has helped establishments raise their profits.
“Everyone said ‘we’re going to lose profits,’ but it actually brought more profits, because people enjoyed the non-smoking environment,” she said. “Even people that smoke enjoy a non-smoking environment. If one person saves one cigarette because of the inconvenience, that’s one less cigarette smoked.”
Although Rodgers conceded he has gained new customers because of the ban, he did not go as far as to say profits were up.
“I’d say at this point, we’ve still lost more business than we’ve gained, but it’s starting to swing the other way,” he said.
“We had a very strong smoking clientele. The previous two years, we had municipal legislation that said anywhere minors were permitted, no smoking is allowed. So the only place you could smoke other than your home was at the pub. Places like us and the Lion’s Den were the only places you could have a cigarette, relax and have a beer.”
In spite of the inconveniences, most customers have stayed loyal, Rodgers said.
“It’s amazing how you can take a loyal customer and say ‘give us your money, and by the way, go stand outside and smoke your cigarette,’” he said. But they did stay loyal to us. We’re local, we’re their pub, and it’s close to their home.”
“I think if you do a great job, people will still come because they enjoy your business,” Kriska added.
One benefit the smoking ban has brought is lower maintenance costs and cleaner facilities.
“I used to be a smoker and I might as well have kept smoking after I quit. Fred’s was bad; the smoke hung in the air,” Kriska said. “We did all our carpets as soon as the smoking was gone, deep cleaning of the ceiling and vents, and everything stays clean now.”
For his own health and the enjoyment of the Crown and Anchor, Rodgers said he prefers it to be non-smoking, but on the economic side, not so much.
“I think it should still be a choice for smokers,” he said. “It’s a legal product and there should be a properly ventilated smoking area within the bar.”
More than anything, smokers don’t want to be told by the government what to do, but they’ll get used to it, said Dale.
“How many people wear seatbelts? That was new legislation, but we didn’t think in 1950 that there would ever be a need,” she said. “Our kids were driving around without seatbelts, without car seats, without these things that are now law.”
Alderman Helen Rice, a smoker and opponent of the legislation, said it’s overreaction by the government.
“Business people were moving in that direction at the will of the customers, so the government had no need to get involved,” she said. “I have no difficulty with banning smoking in any public buildings, but businesses should have the right to reflect the will of their customers.”
According to Rice, Alberta has lost $50 million in taxes because of the ban that is now coming out of people’s pockets.
“And then you have people say ‘what about the health care costs?’ I’d put my health care bills up against just about anyone else’s. I think they’re rather enviable,” she said.
Grande Prairie is better than most places though, Rice added.
“Edmonton got absolutely ridiculous,” she said. “There’s no smoking on patios. You’re outside, so it starts to get somewhat silly.”
Establishments have done their best to accommodate smokers, but there’s only so much that can be done.
Better Than Fred’s, because of it’s location on a downtown street corner, can’t erect any type of smoking shelter. The Crown and Anchor built a smoke shack behind the pub, with a heater and lights.
Dale said the ban – along with the new ban on the sale of cigarettes in facilities that contain pharmacies – is just one more step in the war on tobacco.
“We’ve made great strides in the last 100 years as a whole. Everything gets quicker-paced,” she said. “In the next 20 years, we’ll see a huge difference in the handling of tobacco.”
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The politics of body counts
(November 1, 2008)
By Pierre Lemieux
Just after midnight on October 25, Bailey Zaveda, a young woman who had stepped out of a Toronto bar to smoke a cigarette, was killed by a stray bullet from a dispute between strangers in the street. “What should be done?”, asked an editorial in The Star. “A good first step would be a ban on handguns, the weapon of choice in these shootings.”
This argument is so absurd and hilarious that, in a non-brainwashed world, all pundits would be laughing hysterically. Look at the film in slow motion. The law forbids a woman to smoke in a private place called a bar. She is forced to go outside to have a cigarette, despite the chilly weather (10°C in Toronto on that night). While she is obediently smoking in the cold, she is hit by a bullet. The problem, of course, is the revolver that shot the bullet. So, let’s forbid this too!
It’s the politics of body counts. Count the corpses and, when the popular clamour reaches a certain level of decibels, pick the most politically incorrect among the causes of death and forbid it. Murder being already forbidden, prohibit, say, the instrument of murder. Therein lies the first problem of the politics of body counts: the arbitrariness and political manipulation of the causal category into which the corpses are placed.
Another problem with the politics of body counts is that its practitioners only count the bodies that suit their political agenda. Take guns, for example. Of course, guns in criminal hands will kill some innocent people. But by counting only these victims, we get a gross number of bodies. To get a net body count, the lives that guns save through self-defence and dissuasion must be added to the balance. Guns certainly save some lives, otherwise cops, who don’t have a licence to kill, should not have them. In fact, research suggests that guns in the hands of ordinary citizens save more lives than they take (see, for example, John R. Lott, More Guns, Less Crime, University of Chicago Press, 2000). So, a correct body count favours ordinary people’s right to carry guns.
But assume that this is not the case; assume instead that free access to guns generates a net death count. Even then, body-count politics is questionable, for it assumes that preventing the future murder of unidentified and unknowable persons justifies prohibiting identifiable individuals from obtaining today the tools needed to exert their right of self-defence. Body-count politics assumes that liberty and individual rights have no redeeming value.
Consider smoking. Here again, body-count arithmeticians don’t include all the corpses. Assume it is true that smoking kills independently of other causes. Obviously, smoking prohibitions also kill. Bailey Zaveda just provided a tragic example. So did the Grandby (Québec) smoker who, on February 15, 2007, was crushed to death when a smoking shelter outside a factory collapsed under the weight of snow, after a new Québec law had forbidden smoking in workplaces. So did the bouncer who was killed on April 13, 2003, after expelling a customer who did not respect the new NYC smoking ban. There are other similar cases compiled by Samantha Philippe, the volunteer behind the Smokers Club website.
http://www.smokersclubinc.comNow, assume that prohibiting smoking in certain places does save lives in the net. Does this make prohibition desirable? Only if one excludes the pleasure that smokers derive from smoking. Only if one assumes that not-to-be-a-corpse (or, in reality, not to-be-a-corpse-for-a-bit-more-time) is the ideal life for each and every individual.
We are back to the liberty argument: whom does the body of the smoker or the bungee jumper belong to? Serious cost-benefit analysis considers the “utility” (or satisfaction) that an individual gets from what he chooses to do and the trade-offs he himself makes. The body-count calculus is flawed, it is just a smokescreen for authoritarianism.
Swimming pools illustrate the central place of liberty in this debate. Contrary to the right to carry guns, or to smoke inside when the owner welcomes you, or to drive cars, swimming pools virtually never save lives. But they do take a lot of them. In 2004 (the last year available), 18 persons drowned in Canadian swimming pools, including 6 younger than 20. Why not forbid swimming pools? There is only one reason this question is never raised: members of the ruling class who want to abolish smoking and private guns (and many other things) happen to like swimming pools.
The politics of body counts is about some individuals imposing their preferences on others, pursuing their own happiness while forbidding others from doing the same.
http://www.libertyincanada.ca/ *****************
Bar gunplay kills 1
October 26, 2008
By TAMARA CHERRY, SUN MEDIA
TORONTO -- Five bodies dropped outside a Toronto tavern yesterday - of the four who were innocent bystanders, one didn't wake up.
Toronto Police Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said he was confident he would find the man responsible for the "brazen, cowardly act."
Toronto's 60th homicide victim of the year was smoking a cigarette in the archway just outside The Duke of York Tavern when a verbal argument between two patrons escalated to one of them pulling out a semi-automatic pistol just before 1 a.m, Giroux said.
As round after round was fired - judging by shell casings, there were a dozen or so - the glass on the front doors was shattered and five people, two men and three women, were hit by bullets.
Some were inside the bar; some, like the deceased, were outside, Giroux said
"The shots were fired in the direction of the intended target, but at the time there was as many as a dozen or more patrons standing in the same general location," he said, adding the young woman who was killed "had nothing whatsoever to do with the altercation."
She was pronounced dead at the scene, while many of the wounded had been released from hospital by noon. The woman's name had not been released as of last night.
As for the "intended target," Giroux said there was no indication of a prior feud or any relations between he and the shooter before that night.
"(It's) difficult to put it into words of how a coward like this would fire into a crowd of individuals. Really, it really is beyond me as to what to say," Giroux said.
"It's another Jane Creba type of scenario."
Creba was a teenager fatally shot in the city's downtown after gunfire was exchanged between men on Boxing Day three years ago.
Given the "great deal of co-operation" from witnesses, Giroux said he wouldn't be surprised by a quick arrest.
"I'm really only looking for those handful of individuals with the courage to come forward and tell me exactly who he is," he said.
"It's a very, very easy case to solve, a very strong prosecution once these people come forward. I would ask that the community who frequent that particular area to rally around this victim."
The bar, which, according to area residents, attracts an older after-work crowd during the week and a younger crowd on the weekend, seemed frozen in time yesterday, with the neon "open" light still glowing and chalk boards advertising the night's specials hanging outside.
Just steps from a mural of a carbine-toting John Wayne, two blankets were taped to the entrance, shielding the spot where the woman died.
"What ever happened to good old-fashioned fist fighting?" one woman asked as she passed by the tavern yesterday afternoon. "Because they're cowards," the man with her said.
The suspect was white, in his mid-20s, about six feet tall, with short dark hair, partial facial hair and dark clothing.
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Women accused of smoking attack -MB
Mon, June 23, 2008
By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA
Allegedly assaulted employee who reported puffing
Two women, including one from Winnipeg, are accused of assaulting a Brandon bar or lounge worker after they were caught smoking in the girls' room yesterday.
Brandon police said the employee alerted management after he caught the pair puffing in the bathroom.
That ticked off the suspects, so they confronted and hit the employee, police said.
Police did not identify the establishment.
Two women, a 33 year old from Winnipeg and 35 year old from Brandon, are facing charges of assault.
They are scheduled to appear in court in Brandon on Aug. 25. Police did not release their names.
Manitoba's indoor smoking ban has been in place since 2004.
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Another Canadian Anti-Smoking Advocate Makes Unfounded Accusation that Tobacco Policy Opponents are Big Tobacco Lackeys
January 30, 2008
By Michael Siegel
Last April, I relayed the story of a letter to the editor written by a Canadian anti-smoking advocate who make an undocumented and false accusation that the author of a letter opposing a ban on tobacco grants at the University of Alberta was a Big Tobacco lackey. In a letter to the editor published April 16, 2007 in the Edmonton Journal, an anti-smoking advocate who is past president of the Canadian Thoracic Society accused Michael J. McFadden of being a Big Tobacco mole, but without providing any documentation to back up his claim. The letter came in response to a letter written by McFadden several days earlier, in which he argued against a ban on tobacco grants at the University of Alberta.
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Bar Owners Want to Stay Open an Extra Hour in Hull -QC
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Josh Pringle
Hull bars owners want to extend last call by one hour.
For a dozen years, bars along the Portage Strip in Hull have been forced to close at 2 am.
The city moved up closing time after a number of violent incidents and an increased number of impaired drivers who crossed the Ottawa River from Ottawa.
Bar owner Maxime Gauld says the extra hour would do wonders for business.
Bar owners allege they've lost 10 per cent of their annual revenue since the change
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Hull bars push to stay open until 3 a.m. -QC
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 16, 2007
CBC News
Bars in the Hull district of Gatineau are lobbying for the right to stay open as late as bars in the rest of the city and an hour longer than bars in neighbouring Ottawa.
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No-smoking bylaw hits Fort McMurray -AB
Fri, August 24, 2007
By MATTHEW HEINDL, Sun Media
Local man upset to leave to his business and town behind
FORT MCMURRAY — A Fort McMurray citizen says he’s been driven out of business and is leaving town due to the no-smoking bylaw.
Doug Otway and his wife Amanda, life-long residents of Fort McMurray, knew a smoking ban was coming into effect when they bought the Rook Billiard Club in 2001.
The first smoking bylaw restricted minors from smoking establishments, and he originally opposed the measure.
“What the city did when they put that law in place, is they gave a competitive advantage to a certain number of businesses,” said Otway.
But Otway faced the option of losing either his smoking clientele or youth clientele, who often came to the billiards hall through school groups.
He tried to work with both groups, he said.
And so he agreed, like other businesses in town that allowed smoking, to invest in renovations to put a wall up in the centre of the room to create a smoking section.
Otway said that he did not get financing for the $75,000 project until 14 months ago. He also put $50,000 of his own money into the renovations.
Otway pointed to Earls, Moxie’s, The Keg, Kozy Korner and the Garden Café as literally spending millions of dollars trying to accommodate this (by)law.”
And then the Wood Buffalo Tobacco Reduction Coaltition asked council to pass its so-called gold standard – a complete ban on smoking in public facilities.
“I’m trying to do what’s right in the community, and I feel like we’ve gotten punished for it,” said Otway.
“What they just told us is we just blew $125,000 for no reason.”
So he sold his business at a $150,000 loss, and soon his home followed.
“I hate to say it but I feel like my life has been ruined. I’m walking out from here literally going bankrupt, and I’m going to be sitting with a huge bill I’m going to have to pay off,” said Otway.
“For the first time in my life I hate this city.
“Had I known this (by)law was to come – instead of paying off a $75,000 loan, I would be two years into a profitable company, I’d be able to go to the bank and get a $150,000 loan and I’d be able to completely renovate that place beautifully, as one full room. I’d own a house and still be a member of this community.”
Regional council passed the latest version of its non-smoking bylaw June 12. Local restaurants, lounges, bars and bingo halls must stop their patrons from smoking on Sept. 1.
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Smoking ban hits bottom line -bc
August 15, 2007
The sign posted on the padlocked door to the old smoking room at the Sooke River Hotel just about says it all for owner Don Rittaler.
“All Heil Dr. Stanwick! Thanks to our friend here there will be NO SMOKING allowed on patios or in smoke rooms in Victoria.”
“It’s nuts,” said Rittaler. “It has effected everybody. It’s hurt the industry.”
Rittaler, an outspoken opponent of the Capital Regional District’s Clean Air Bylaw, said his business is down 50-60 per cent since the bylaw came into effect on July 1.
“Two people have lost their jobs,” he said. “It’s far reaching. There is no money for sponsorships, it goes on and on and I don’t see it getting better, it’s going to get worse.”
The hotel has now shortened their business hours. They are now closing at 11 p.m. rather than 1 a.m.
The Sooke River Hotel, or the Castle as it is called locally, built a designated smoking room when the first hammer struck in 2002 making it illegal to smoke in pubs.
At Buffy’s Pub along West Coast Road the situation is not quite so grim, although the smoking area is deserted.
Owner Jay Ryan said his sales are down about 25 per cent from last year. During May and June, before the bylaw went into effect, his business was showing increases of between 27 and 36 per cent over the previous year.
“It has changed dramatically,” he said.
He said the government allows cigarettes to be sold but doesn’t allow smokers to smoke.
Ryan said he has not laid off anyone, but the shifts have been changed.
He said smokers now go outdoors to grab a puff but he is worried that patrons have to leave their drinks unattended and this could have some dire consequences if someone’s drink is spiked.
“If people don’t want to be around smoke, don’t go to where they smoke,” he said.
He will not be making any long lasting changes until Bill 10 (Clean Air Bylaw) is passed.
“Our smoking patio would become obsolete,” said Ryan.
The Royal Canadian Legion is not as affected by the new bylaw as they have no designated smoking room.
“People are pretty much used to going outside,” said bartender Laurie. “There’s not a lot of smokers anymore.”
The new bylaw is in effect anywhere food or drink is consumed or served. Establishments can create specific areas for smokers but they are not allowed to eat or drink in them, or they can opt to make it smoke-free. There is nothing in between. So, if a person is drinking in an alloted space in a pub they cannot eat anything there, not even their bag lunch or even an apple.
No one has been fined yet at any local pubs in Sooke as the bylaw is enforced through a complaint-driven process through the CRD.
If a patron is caught smoking and a complaint is responded to, they will be fined $50 and the business will be fined $100, to a maximum of $2,000.
In 2002 the provincial government caved into pressure from the hospitality industry and allowed restaurants and bars to offer patrons ventilated smoking rooms. The foodservice industry had been in a seesaw battle with the provincial government since 1998 when WCB imposed a province-wide smoking ban, later overturned in the courts. According to the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, a study into the economic impact of the first 80 days of the 1998 ban revealed 730 jobs were lost, nine businesses were forced to close and more than $16 million was lost. At the time, some outspoken pub owners turned their premises into private clubs, thereby allowing smokers to smoke.
Rittaler said he has had discussions with different groups in the pub and they said there was nothing wrong with the way the smoking room was set up. For now the padlock stays on the door, if only to make a point.
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Killed for a smoke?
September 10, 2005
By CHRIS DOUCETTE, TORONTO SUN
ONE MINUTE Rommel Molina was chilling with his buddies at a North York park, the next the 21-year-old was dying on the ground with a bullet in his chest.
Friends and family remembered the city's 52nd murder victim of the year -- gunned down Thursday afternoon near Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W.-- as a "great guy" who had never been in trouble. His only mistake was standing up to the wrong two guys.
"He didn't do anything wrong and he didn't deserve to die like this," said Rene Molina, 19, who along with his mom, dad, 17-year-old sister and about 20 of Rommel's friends, stopped by Upwood Park on Marshlynn Ave. yesterday to see where his brother was killed.
BRIEF ARGUMENT
Homicide Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said Rommel was "smoking and talking" with three friends in the park bocce court when two young men approached them at 5 p.m.
An "extremely brief" argument ensued and one man pulled out a pistol and shot Rommel at close range.
Giroux said he didn't know what the fight was about, but family and friends had some idea what happened.
"Rommel was just minding his own business," Rene Molina said. "This guy came up to him and asked for a smoke and he said no, so the guy ripped my brother's cigarette out of his mouth and shot him."
Friends recounted a different story, saying Rommel and his pals were actually smoking marijuana.
The group left the park frustrated when they saw it still cordoned off.
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Landmark watering hole taps out -QC
Published: Thursday, July 12
ALYCIA AMBROZIAK, The Gazette
Cheers closes. 'Ninety per cent of the reason is due to the smoking ban'
Say cheers to Cheers.
After 22 years in the West Island, Bill Edwards's Cheers closed its doors last Tuesday, and Edwards says much of the blame is because of the year-old ban on smoking in public places.
"Ninety per cent of the reason is due to the smoking ban," Edwards said Friday. "Because of the smoking ban, we had a drop in two areas: the bar revenue and the revenue from the video lottery terminals.
"We kept hoping things would pick up in the spring, but they didn't," Edwards said, adding that the decision to close was a difficult one, especially because it would affect his long-time employees.
"That was the hardest part of making the decision to close," he said. "Our employees were great."
Edwards said he has been told that about 400 bars in the Montreal area were forced to close since the smoking ban came into effect. "I'm a non-smoker so I liked the idea of a smoke-free bar, but the government went about it the wrong way," he said. "They could have allowed for well-ventilated smoking rooms where people could go instead of being forced outside."
Edwards said the smoking ban caused many regular patrons to stay home or hold events that would normally be held in bars, such as Super Bowl parties, at home where they could smoke and where the drinks were cheaper.
"They started doing it because of the smoking ban and then got into the habit," he said, noting that the closing of Cheers in Pointe Claire was not a bankruptcy.
"A lot of bars have closed ... and there will be more."
Edwards estimated bar closings in the province, along with losses of revenue from VLTs, will cost the Quebec government about $10 billion in all.
As for the future, Edwards said he is considering opening again in the West Island - but the next venture would be a combination of bar and restaurant. "That is the trend now ... we'll see what happens."
Edwards said the Cheers bar downtown, which closed in April, was a franchise operation not linked to him. Edwards continues to run the Cheers bar in Brossard.
"It is in a smaller location ... and is doing well," he said.
Sam Pergantis, general manager at Cheers, and Tim Cunningham, who had been working at the St. Jean Blvd. bar for the past 12 years, spent last Thursday and Friday overseeing the final details at the bar. It was one of the largest in the West Island, with two bars on the ground floor and more space on a second floor, as well as an outdoor terrace.
"The smoking ban, along with a high overhead, was just too much for us to continue," Pergantis said. "We kept hoping it would turn around, but it never did."
Pergantis said the closing means between 30 and 35 people lost their jobs.
"It's very personal," he said. "A lot of people worked their way through school by working here, and a lot of people met here and then married."
Neither Pergantis nor Cunningham had any solid plans on future employment.
"It's been a lot of fun and a very good run," Pergantis said. "This type of thing is never easy, but life goes on."
aambroziak@thegazette.canwest.comRead
Smoke-Free Act 'disastrous'
'Tired of fighting something we can't beat,' Etobicoke bar owner calls it quits
May 31, 2007
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA
Where there's no smoke there's no fire in Toronto's restaurant and bar business, a local owner said yesterday.
One year after Queen's Park implemented its Smoke-Free Ontario Act, Phil Policelli said in his 25 years in the business he has never seen anything like the "disastrous" downturn the industry is facing.
"When the weather is good the patios are full of people, most of them smokers," Policelli said yesterday from his Hollywood on the Queensway in Etobicoke. "But when it rains or if it gets cold, then there's no one here." Other bar owners have told him their business is down by as much as 50% to 60% in the last year.
"They're really hurting us," he said. "Many of us have sunk our personal wealth into these places ... now there is no future and many of us are tired of fighting something we can't beat." Policelli has called it quits and has sold Hollywood on the Queensway.
"There's only so much karaoke we can do to attract customers," he lamented. "We've had live bands on the weekends, we've spent a lot of money to bring them in and they're not coming."
FINAL PHASE
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act banned smoking in closed-in workplaces and enclosed public places, one year from now the final phase takes effect completely banning the retail display of tobacco products.
Premier Dalton McGuinty's government has said the act is necessary to protect employees and the public from the hazards of secondhand smoke. The government says tobacco consumption in Ontario has dropped 18.7% since 2003.
Smoking kills an average of 16,000 people in Ontario each year and tobacco-related diseases account for at least 500,000 hospital days each year, costing the Ontario health care system about $1.6 billion a year. Smoking also results in about $4.4 billion in productivity losses, according to Queen's Park statistics.
Nancy Daigneault of tobacco industry-sponsored mychoice.ca said that along with restaurant and bar owners pleading for mercy, the law hurts seniors and those who live in seniors homes.
"It's pretty hard to ask someone in their 80s to give up something they've been doing most of their lives," Daigneault said.
SOCIAL ASPECT SNUFFED
They're in nursing homes and retirement homes where the Act applies but they smoke in their rooms, causing safety issues and snuffing out the social aspect of their lives, she said.
Policelli fears for the social aspect of the entire city of Toronto now that fewer and fewer people are meeting in the usual places after work to share a laugh or let off steam.
"This city is full of homebodies," he said. "They can go home and drink for less, smoke where they want to and enjoy their own TVs in their own home. There's no reason anymore to go out -- it isn't as much fun anymore."
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Ontario's restaurant industry yet to recover from impact of 9/11, SARS -ON
TORONTO, May 2, 2007 /CNW/ - More than five years after it began, the "perfect storm" is still being felt by Ontario's restaurateurs and bar owners.
Between 2000 and 2006, restaurant industry revenues fell by an inflation-adjusted 1.8%, which represents a drop in demand of $291 million. Sales won't recover to 2000 levels until 2008, according to a new forecast by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).
Starting in 2001, the hospitality industry was hit by what has been termed the perfect storm: the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, SARS, smoking bans, the loss of an NHL season, sluggish economy, rising Canadian dollar, and skyrocketing gas prices - factors which led to a persistent and dramatic drop in tourism, and less spending by local customers.
Revenues in Ontario's restaurant industry grew by an inflation-adjusted 2.7% last year, according to Statistics Canada, but for the sixth straight year it wasn't enough to restore the industry to 2000 levels.
Other signs the industry in Ontario has been hard hit in recent years:
- Restaurant industry pre-tax profit margins in Ontario are the lowest in the country at just 2.9% of operating revenue. Ontario bars have hit a new low, reporting an average loss of 0.5% of revenue.
- Ontario has seen a 50% drop in the number of international tourists since 2001, while the rest of Canada has seen a 24% drop.
- Real foodservice sales in Ontario are 1.8% lower than they were in 2000, compared to an 8.5% increase in the rest of Canada.
- The number of foodservice establishments in Ontario has dropped by 428 since 2000, to 22,083 in total.
- Ontario now has 17.4 foodservice establishments per 10,000 people - the third lowest concentration in Canada and ahead of only Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
(All figures are based on Statistics Canada data)
CRFA is forecasting 1.3% real growth for Ontario's restaurant industry in 2007 and 2008. Many restaurant and bar owners will continue to be challenged by rising costs including the new bottle deposit program and a series of minimum wage increases, starting in early 2008, which will put inflationary pressure on all wages and lead to higher payroll taxes for employers.
CRFA is one of Canada's largest business associations with more than 34,000 members across the country, including 11,000 in Ontario, representing restaurants, bars, caterers and other foodservice providers.
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Capitol gives up the fight -ON
January 24, 2007
Dalson Chen, Windsor Star
Theatre's board to ask city to take over
The people who run the Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre have decided to ask the city to take over the financially troubled downtown cultural venue.
At the annual general meeting of the theatre's voting members on Tuesday night, Capitol president John Funnell tabled a motion to transfer the theatre and all its current assets to city hall "for the purpose of preserving this community cultural asset."
According to Funnell, the theatre does not have the money to continue operation past June 30, the end of its financial year.
"I think the city is going to have to get involved -- if they so choose to -- for this to continue as a viable entity," Funnell said.
"The primary concern of this board is that the theatre stay open -- not necessarily who owns it."
The motion passed with only one vote in opposition.
Acting manager Tom Lynd said the next step will be to put the offer before city council Jan. 29.
If council refuses, Lynd said, the theatre's only recourse will be to file a plan for an orderly shutdown or bankruptcy protection.
"We can't continue operating. We can't contract shows when we can't afford to pay for them," Lynd said.
Downtown arts supporter Lois Smedick, 73, was the lone member to vote against the idea.
Smedick said her worry is that once the theatre's ownership is transferred, the city will be able to use the property in any way it sees fit, including closure or sale.
"It's a motion of faith that (the theatre) will be preserved for cultural purposes. We have no assurances that would be the case," said Smedick, who joined the Capitol organization recently out of concern for the theatre's neighbouring tenant, the long-running Artcite Inc. gallery.
Lynd admitted that if council chooses to acquire the property, it will have "the authority and power to deal with it however they wish to."
But Lynd added that Mayor Eddie Francis and council have previously expressed their commitment to maintaining the theatre's original mandate. "Council is responsive to the will of the people," Lynd said.
First opened in 1920, the Capitol was saved from demolition in 1993 by a community effort to register it as a non-profit charitable organization.
Lynd said that although the 2006 financial year ended with a surplus of about $35,000, interim results for the current fiscal year forecast a loss of about $138,000.
The bulk of the theatre's annual operating budget has previously been earned through charity bingos, which at one time amounted to $900,000 in revenue. After the city cut bingo licences and the province introduced its indoor smoking bylaw, the Capitol's bingo revenues sagged.
This year, Lynd estimates the revenues have dropped even further to a mere $60,000. "That's the situation we're facing today," he said. "We have sort of been fighting for our financial lives over the last few years."
DEJA VU
The current problems are a repeat of a 2005 crisis -- largely the result of a reduction in bingo dollars.
A few years ago, the Capitol -- with an annual operating budget of $1.3 million -- earned $900,000 from hosting charity bingos. The flowing bingo funds came at a time when the industry was flying and the theatre had almost 1,300 bingo licences, more than any group in the city.
The city cut the licences while the bingo industry sagged, chopping the Capitol's share to $500,000. This year, the theatre is forecasting only $60,000 in bingo money through 38 events.
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Casinos spark outrage -ON
January 17, 2007
By NELLY ELAYOUBI, OTTAWA SUN
Bars cry foul over smoking shelters
The smoke-free debate has been sparked yet again, with two provincially owned casinos building covered shelters for their smoking patrons.
Casinos in Windsor and Niagara Falls will be constructing outdoor shelters for smokers, while restaurants and bars in Ontario are forbidden such privileges under the provincewide smoke ban.
Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson, MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean, said yesterday the Smoke Free Ontario Act doesn't allow patios or enclosed shelters for bars and restaurants to protect workers from second-hand smoke.
NO EXCEPTION
Casinos are entitled to build the shelters because employees won't have to enter them.
"I would never authorize an exception for casinos," Watson said. "They're being treated as an office building, the Scotiabank Place, or a factory or a long-term-care home."
Bingo halls and private businesses are also permitted to have smoking shelters -- a roof with two walls.
Watson noted this provision has always been part of the smoke-free act, which came into effect in June.
The issue came to the surface after Mychoice.ca, a lobby group fully funded by the tobacco industry, put out a media release saying the province granted exceptions for casinos to have smoking huts.
"They are obviously desperate to try to undermine the law because they just want people to smoke where they want to," Watson said.
Edgar Mitchell, president of Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada (PUBCO), called the provision "hypocritical."
"This is self-seeking and clearly a revenue issue," he said.
Watson rejected suggestions the government is forcing bars and restaurants to play by different rules than casinos.
"There is not a double standard," he said.
PUBCO has about 40 local members -- 700 province-wide. Last night, Mitchell met with three Ottawa pub owners to discuss the issue.
250 PUBS CLOSED
Mitchell said about 250 locally run pubs have shut down since the city's smoking bylaw was introduced in 2001. In their place, large chains and franchises are being opened.
"There's no question that if you don't have a roof over small patios and serve smoking customers, you will lose some customers for a short time and perhaps forever," Mitchell said.
"Good old-fashioned pubs, dare I say, drinking place, socializing place is not as prevalent," he said.
Although bingo halls are allowed to have smoking shelters, they have also been hard hit by the anti-smoking movement.
There was a time when Ottawa had 18 bingo parlours. That number has dwindled to four.
All area hospitals adopted a smoke-free policy on their own.
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Province’s pot of VLT gold trimmed by $40m -NS
January 18, 2007
By AMY SMITH Provincial Reporter
More restrictive rules, smoking ban expected to shrink
Nova Scotia is expecting a drop of more than $40 million in video lottery terminal profits because of changes to the machines and the province’s smoking ban.
Marie Mullally, CEO of the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp., said the province will receive an estimated $95 million from VLTs in 2006-07, compared with $138 million in 2004-05.
She said she’s not surprised by the decline, because the province introduced several changes to VLTs as part of its gaming strategy.
In the past 18 months, the province has imposed midnight as the daily shutdown time for the machines; removed the games’ stop button, which gave players the impression they could control the game’s outcome; got rid of nearly 1,000 VLTs; and slowed the speed of the machines.
"For me that loss in revenues is what it should be," Ms. Mullally told reporters after testifying before the legislature’s public accounts committee Wednesday. "We’re very — I guess in many ways — pleased we could estimate it fairly accurately what we thought the impact would be."
She said the province’s smoking ban, which started Dec. 1, has also had an effect on profits from VLTs and casinos.
"That’s because we do have products that . . . were located in the smoking rooms," Ms. Mullally said. "Players are now either not playing or they are not playing as long, and that certainly impacts on revenue."
The gaming corporation estimates the smoking ban will mean a $12 million to $15 million drop in profits from 2006-07 to 2007-08.
New Democrat MLA Graham Steele said the drop in VLT profits shows people are gambling less. What’s not clear, he said, is whether there’s been an impact on Nova Scotia’s problem gamblers.
"The real target audience of all these changes hasn’t been the low-risk or no-risk gamblers," he said. "It’s been the problem gamblers. What we need to find out is: Does this new status quo include a lot less problem gambling or do we still need to do more to tackle it?"
Finance Minister Michael Baker, who is dealing with a razor-thin surplus, said there’s something positive in the government collecting less revenue from VLTs, just as there is in collecting less tobacco tax because people have quit smoking.
"If people have helped address their problem gaming, then obviously, that’s a good thing," he said.
Restaurant industry seeks level playing field with government casinos -ON
Ontario bar sales down 24% since smoking bans began taking effect in 2001
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2007 /CNW/ - A decision to allow government-run casinos to build smoking shelters should be extended to Ontario's bars, pubs and lounges, which have also seen a dramatic drop in business as result of smoking bans, says the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).
Real sales in Ontario's bar, tavern and nightclub sector have dropped by 8% or $21 million in the first five months of the provincial smoking ban that was implemented on June 1 of last year, according to Statistics Canada. Since 2001, the bar, tavern and nightclub sector has suffered a 24% or $182-million drop in real sales, and an 18% drop in the number of establishments, due in large part to municipal smoking bans and the province-wide ban.
"Clearly the Ontario government has recognized the severe economic impact of its decision to ban smoking. It now needs to move immediately to allow smoking shelters in the rest of the hospitality industry, not just look after its own declining casino revenues," says CRFA's Executive Vice President, Michael Ferrabee.
During hearings into the smoking legislation, CRFA advocated separately ventilated, unstaffed rooms in bars, pubs and lounges for employees and patrons who choose to smoke. The government rejected this proposal in favour of a complete smoking ban, except on patios with no roof, overhang or even closely positioned umbrellas.
The regulations and guidance provided by the government since the province-wide ban came into effect on June 1, 2006 made it clear that smoking shelters would not be allowed in hospitality businesses.
"To suggest that casinos are not part of this same hospitality business is absurd," says Ferrabee. "They offer food and beverage service and compete directly with bars and restaurants."
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Moving past smoking ban, restaurant group focused on surviving in soft economy -NS
January 9, 2007
By Roger Taylor
NOVA SCOTIA’s smoking ban actually makes it look like more people than ever are smoking. That’s because smokers who used to be able to hide away in pubs and bars while lighting up have now been forced outside to continue their dirty little habit.
I’ve heard from various sources that some bars that rely heavily on revenue from video lottery terminals are feeling the effects of the ban more than most. Bars that once kept their VLTs in a smoking section, segregated from the rest of the bar, are making less money because their customers are now forced to leave the machines every so often to go outside for a smoke — and sometimes they don’t come back.
While it is a revenue killer for the affected bars, some might suggest getting people to spend less time in front of VLTs may be the only positive aspect of smoking.
Alternative-music nightspot Stage Nine Bar and Grill in Halifax closed its doors permanently last week. The owners blamed the smoking ban, among other issues, saying it made it difficult for them to manage their business. The bar’s 600-square-foot smoking room became "useless space" after the province banned smoking in all indoor places and outdoor patios in early December, Stage Nine co-owner Greg Clark told entertainment reporter Elissa Barnard on Monday.
Patrons were arriving at the club later in the evening than previously, Clark says, a phenomenon he blames on people choosing to drink at home before they go out ". . . and now they are smoking at home."
Luc Erjavec, Atlantic Canada vice-president for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, says there wasn’t a big howl of complaint from bar and restaurant owners when the full ban went in. "Basically because they’ve been kicked so hard on this issue, they’ve had the fight knocked out of them."
Only about 155 bars installed smoking rooms when the rules were first changed to restrict smoking a couple of years ago, so when the total ban went into effect in December, Erjavec says only a small number of bars were affected.
"But for the bar owners who invested the money to install a smoking room, it was worthwhile because it allowed them a period of transition," he told me in a conversation Monday.
While Erjavec says no one was pushing government for the total ban, when it came about his association decided it couldn’t fight it any more. While it may be too early to determine exactly how much the total smoking ban affects VLT play, the earlier ban that allowed smoking rooms resulted in a 15 to 20 per cent decline right away, he says.
The New Brunswick smoking ban has resulted in that government maintaining a warehouse full of poker machines with not enough bars in which to install them.
The restaurant association now is concerned the Nova Scotia government might decide to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.15 an hour.
Erjavec says the food service and restaurant sectors are struggling to cope with several years of poor financial results. The wage issue is complicated, he says, because it has a ripple effect throughout the industry. In addition, many bars and restaurants in places like Truro, Pictou and Meteghan are having trouble finding workers, he says, while at the same time learning to cope with fewer customers.
"A lot of people who make the good-paying jobs in those areas — plumbers, pipefitters and people like that — have moved out West to work and it’s hard to make up for the loss of those good customers. They might be gone for only six months or whatever but they’re still taken out of the economy of that period."
The situation in the bustling urban centre of Halifax and Dartmouth is a little different from the rest of the province, he says. There is a business expansion, with some of the larger restaurant chains checking out what opportunities may exist for them in the new Dartmouth Crossing retail development.
(
rtaylor@herald.ca)
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Rash of weekend violence yields spate of stabbings -MB
January 8, 2007
Police are searching for two stabbing suspects after a violent Winnipeg weekend.
The first attack, Friday night after 11:30 p.m., sent a 23-year-old man to hospital in stable condition after he was robbed of the beer he was carrying.
The victim was walking with his girlfriend near William Newton Avenue and Allan Street when he was approached by a group of 10 to 15 people between the ages of 15 and 20.
He was stabbed twice in the chest.
Police are looking for a white male with short, dark hair and a blue and grey parka. He was carrying a six-inch knife.
A second suspect is aboriginal in appearance, six-feet tall, with a slim build, beige parka and glasses.
Early Saturday another man was knifed several times after a fight broke out when he refused to give a cigarette to two teens near Maryland Street and Notre Dame Avenue about 2:30 a.m.
The 27-year-old victim went to hospital in stable condition with stab wounds to his upper body.
The suspects are described as aboriginal teens about 15 or 16 years old.
Meanwhile, police were met by an unco-operative victim after a stabbing outside an Exchange District bar about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
A male, who went to hospital in critical condition, is now in stable condition, police said yesterday. But he has declined to speak to officers.
The stabbing occurred after a fight between four people in the 100 block of Market Avenue, outside the Warehouse Bar.
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Ban burns small businesses
Some have lost up to 20% of revenue, smokers rights group says
October 18, 2006
By NATALIE PONA, TORONTO SUN
John McKillop closed up shop for the last time as the Italian soccer team kicked its way to World Cup victory.
After nearly 30 years as owner of a neighbourhood pub popular with soccer fans, McKillop, 60, decided he couldn't keep his business afloat without allowing smoking.
New rules prevented customers from lighting up in his $35,000 smoking room, installed in 2004.
He said he sold Elsewhere Bar & Grill, on Yonge St. at Eglinton Ave., before losing everything to the province-wide butt ban, made official in May.
"If you can't make money, it's not much fun," McKillop said yesterday.
Groups opposed to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act say his story is common.
BIG LOSS
Some Ontario businesses have lost up to 20% of revenue, said Nancy Daigneault, who is president of smokers' rights group mychoice.ca, which is funded in part by the tobacco industry.
"There has been a serious impact on the small business owner because smokers are not going there because they're not welcome," she said.
Although the ban's impact will take time to unfold, experience shows pubs and breakfast restaurants -- where patrons want a smoke with their morning coffee -- suffer most, said Randy Hughes, a spokesman for the Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada.
"People stay home. People have more house parties. It becomes a problem for the operators," he said.
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Man stabbed after quarrel over smoking at bus stop
October 15, 2006
Andrew Seymour, The Ottawa Citizen
Cigarette sparks latest transitway incident
An argument sparked by one young man telling another not to smoke inside the South Keys transit station ended with an 18-year-old being stabbed in the neck and shoulder late Friday.
Ottawa police said the victim was waiting in the Bank Street bus station about 11:15 p.m. when he told the man to put out his cigarette while he was in the station.
"The best indication is the guy took offence to him telling him what to do," said Ottawa police Sgt. John Maxwell, adding the victim was released from hospital after being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.
The suspect fled on foot immediately after the stabbing, police said.
A witness with a cellphone followed the man and called police, who had several plainclothes officers in the area.
With the help of the witness, the man -- who had blood on his hands and shirt -- was arrested a short time later near the corner of Bank Street and Albion Road.
Police also found a bloody shirt near the transitway station.
The knife used in the attack has not been found.
Emery Warner, 19, has been charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Friday night's stabbing was the latest violent incident to occur on OC Transpo property.
On Sept. 21, Michael Oatway, 23, was stabbed to death following a confrontation on a bus along Baseline Road. A 17-year-old male has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying.
Police have recently stepped up undercover patrols of city buses and transitway stations to crack down on illegal activity.
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