By Jennifer McCarthy
Some local businesses are having no problem with Ottawa’s new smoking bylaw. They’re choosing to ignore it.
The bylaw came into effect on Oct. 1, and requires all bars and restaurants to designate 70 per cent of their space as non-smoking. The regulations have owners worried about losing smoking customers, but so far they haven’t been chased away.
“The bylaw hasn’t really affected us,” says Dan Byrne, owner of the Celtic Cross pub on Bank Street. “But that’s because we haven’t really complied with it.”
Byrne says during lunch hour they have a designated non-smoking section, but at night it’s too hard to enforce.
“There are so many people especially in a pub atmosphere who smoke,” says Byrne. “If we told people that two-thirds of our place was non-smoking we would lose two-thirds of our customers.”
Byrne says he wants to see how strongly the bylaw is enforced before he upsets customers.
Currently, the city is only investigating when it receives a complaint about a restaurant or bar breaking the bylaw.
“We’re responding on a request for service basis only,” says Martha Boyle, manager of licensing for the City of Ottawa. “We’re relying on voluntary compliance.”
If there is no complaint then the bylaw won’t be enforced, says Boyle. “We’ve had, I think, one request for service.”
Bill Macy, owner of the Cave and its adjoining restaurant says most bar owners have no desire to live with tobacco smoke and the problems it creates. But he adds, smoking is a reality of the business. The bylaw hasn’t had enough of an effect in his bar, says Macy, because “people still smoke.”
Most restaurants seem to be having an easier time complying with the bylaw.
Vera Naufal, who has owned a small restaurant with her husband for 11 years, says she was worried about losing her customers because many of her regulars are smokers.
“I was watching all last week and the week before,” says Naufal. “A few customers, they left because there was no smoking, but I’ve had the same thing with non-smokers. They come and see lots of smoke and they leave,” she says.
Naufal says most of her customers know why the smoking section got smaller and any complaints she hears are directed at the government that created the bylaw rather than at her.
“My customers understand,” she says. “It’s a law, we have to follow it, and that’s it.”
But Byrne says he doesn’t think the 70/30 split will work at a pub like the Celtic Cross.
“It’s got to be all or nothing. Either zero tolerance or forget it. It’s just too hard to abide with.”