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City to consider outdoor patio smoking ban

The city is considering extending its smoking ban to include not only all municipal property, but also outdoor patios many bars created after smoking was banned indoors more than a decade ago.
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In the coming months, city staff and the Sudbury and District Health Unit will begin a public consultation process on bringing in tougher anti-smoking rules. File photo.

The city is considering extending its smoking ban to include not only all municipal property, but also outdoor patios many bars created after smoking was banned indoors more than a decade ago.

City councillors voted Tuesday to have staff begin consulting the public on tougher anti-smoking rules, with separate consultations planned for restaurant and bar owners who would be affected by the outdoor patio ban. A report with options is expected by the fall.

Michael Perley, head of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, told councillors there’s a perception that outdoor patios are don't affect anyone other than the smokers.

In fact, he said, they are a workplace for bar and restaurant staff, and significant amounts of second-hand smoke drifts indoors.

“It makes what should be smoke-free indoor premises, smoking premises,” Perley said. “Brief exposure to second-hand smoke can trigger health events like heart attacks and asthma attacks.”

More than 4,000 people die in Canada every year from second-hand smoke, councillors were told.

While smoking rates in Sudbury have fallen significantly over the last 10 years, rates here, where 18 per cent of adults smoke, are still higher than Ontario's overall rate of 12 per cent.

Cities like Kingston, Thunder Bay and Ottawa have already banned smoking in outdoor patios, Perley said, and he expects Toronto will follow suit soon.

Perley was part of a delegation from the Sudbury and District Health Unit and city staff that made a presentation to council on its options for a tougher smoking ban. City council asked for the presentation after banning smoking on all city parks and playing fields earlier this spring.

Catherine Matheson, the city's general manager of community development, said staff and the health unit will work together to come up with a survey that includes different options the city can choose to tighten existing restrictions.

“It is recommended that additional questions be included in that survey asking residents their opinion about restricting in uncovered restaurant patios,” Matheson said.

The public can access the survey online, or it can pick up printed copies at citizen service centres. Ward Community Action Networks will be consulted in a focus-group style process, Matheson said.

Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau said he’s heard from some bar owners concerned about the changes and wants to be part of the consultation process.

“One point is the need for a level playing field,” Barbeau said. “That's the constant we're hearing from restaurant owners. One doesn't want to do it if the others aren't doing it.”

Ward 1 Coun. Joe Cimino asked about enforcement. He said the ban on smoking in parks is tough enough to enforce and wondered about the difficulty in enforcing more stringent rules.

“One of the biggest challenges we have as a municipality is enforcing bylaws,” he said.

He asked whether there's an approach they can take to enforcement that would be more effective.

Perley said public education before the new rules are passed is key so no one is surprised. A certain percentage of smokers will want to quit when they hear about the new restrictions, so programs should be in place to help them.

When Ottawa passed its ban, there were a few hundred complaints within the first six months, he said. Handing out a few fines got the message out quickly, he said.

“The media will cover it, and the rest of it becomes largely self-enforcing,” Perley said. “That's our overall experience.”

Bernie Desjardins, owner of the Townehouse Tavern on Elgin Street, said he would naturally follow whatever bylaws the city puts in place. And while he wants to participate in the consultation process, he said there's no denying that banning smoking on outdoor patios would hurt business.

When smoking indoors was banned a decade ago, Desjardins and other bars created outdoor patios to minimize the impact on their businesses. It was a way to follow the new rules while limiting the negative impact on health and their businesses.

“I would prefer they leave things the way they are,” Desjardins said Wednesday morning. “But I will, of course, abide by the law.”

Sandra Lacle, the health unit's director of the health promotion division, says their own surveys have found widespread support for tighter restrictions on where people can smoke.

“More than three-quarters of those surveyed supported smoke-free patios,” Lacle said.

Current rules prohibit smoking within nine metres of any entrance to a municipal building.

And the Smoke-Free Ontario Act also bans someone from lighting up in several public places, including schools, as defined in the Education Act, common areas in apartment buildings, university and colleges, daycare centres, in cars carrying someone under the age of 16, and in restaurants, including outdoor patios that are partially or completely covered.

A complete ban would affect more than 600 buildings and structures the city owns, as well as 38 properties the city leases, and the nine properties the city has leased to tenants.


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Darren MacDonald

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