By Peter Gay
After a series of public consultations, Ottawa is one step closer to being smoke-free.
The consultations were organized by the city’s public health branch to explain recommendations made by Ottawa’s chief medical officer to eliminate second-hand smoke.
The recommendations by Dr. Robert Cushman will integrate already existing smoking bylaws in the former municipalities of Kanata, Nepean, Ottawa, Gloucester and Rideau Township.
Elaine Medline, a project manager for the public health branch of the City of Ottawa, says the proposals would create a citywide ban on smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, billiards, halls and arenas.
Medline says the first round of consultations in January showed that the public backs the recommendations.
“There was some opposition but not nearly as much as expected,” says Medline. “There is a lot of support for this bill.”
“The recommendations are a little harder than other bylaws,” says Medline. “But there are a lot of people who are not going out because of the smoke and the dangers it causes.”
Previous bylaws in other municipalities proposed a designated smoking room with separate ventilation, but this was eliminated in Cushman’s proposals.
“Over 70 per cent of Ottawa residents approve of a 100-per cent smoke-free environment, and that public support has been increasing,” says Medline, referring to a poll conducted earlier this year.
The recommendations will reach the committee stage as early as March and, if passed by city council, they will modify the citywide smoking bylaw that comes into effect on May 31.
A smoking ban throughout the city will radically change the current system, which allows unrestricted smoking in bars, and designated smoking areas in restaurants.
“(These recommendations) will kill the bar business,” says Andrea Lanctot, the manager of Barrymore’s, one of Ottawa’s largest bars.
Lanctot, who has been in the bar business for over 11 years, says her patrons don’t support the recommendations.
“Most of the people who come here, as well as our employees, either smoke or don’t mind being in a smoking environment,” says Lanctot. “Smoking is a part of the bar-life.”
She also says a smoke-free city would deter live musicians and DJs from coming to the city. Lanctot says the city is being unreasonable and that the original plans for a separate smoking room were a better way to accommodate everyone’s needs.
“The separately ventilated rooms at least gave bar owners and customers an option,” says Lanctot, who adds that the stricter bylaw will not get passed by council without any opposition.
“The bar owners are all going to have to get together and start fighting this thing,” says Lanctot.