Smokers in Barrhead may soon have to think twice about where they light up, even if they are outside, after town council discussed the possibility of enacting a smoking bylaw.
Martin Taylor, Barrhead’s chief operation officer said he brought the issue to council at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23 after the town received a letter from a concerned Barrhead citizen, Stephanie Bowick, asking council to consider enacting a bylaw that would prohibit smoking in town parks, as well as at public events sponsored by the town. Included with the letter was a petition of support signed by 84 Barrhead area residents.
Taylor also referenced a letter the town received in August from Alberta’s Justice and Solicitor General’s department regarding the Prevention of Youth Tobacco Use Act and the Tobacco Reduction Act.
According to Alberta government statistics, the number of Albertans who smoke has gone down since the two acts were passed in 2002, as part of its Alberta Tobacco Reduction Strategy, one in five Albertans smoke.
The letter encourages the town to use the acts to their fullest to try to combat the use of tobacco.
Taylor said although these pieces of legislation are provincial domain, council could enact its own smoking bylaw to in an effort to curb smoking.
Community Peace Officer, Jonathon Kerr, told council that the current provincial law prohibited people from smoking in all public places.
“Basically that means a person can’t smoke inside any building, such as a restaurant, store or office building,” Kerr said. “From the town’s perspective, it would apply to the town office, the skating rink, the curling club, that sort of thing.”
However, Kerr said the law does not prohibit smoking at outdoor public venues, such as parks or outdoor skating rinks. To do that, he said, municipalities would have to pass their own bylaws.
In preparation for his visit to council, Kerr tried to find examples of smoking bylaws other communities in Alberta have passed.
“The only communities that really had a legitimate, standing no smoking bylaws were Calgary and Edmonton,” Kerr said.
Both of those cities’ bylaws prohibit smoking within a certain distance of any outdoor public venue such as playgrounds, seasonal skating rinks, skate parks, outdoor swimming pools and splash parks.
In Edmonton the distance is 10 metres, while in Calgary it is 5 metres.
Although, both Edmonton and Calgary have their own smoking bylaws, Kerr said his research is that their bylaw officers find it very difficult to enforce.
“Take an event like the rodeo,” Kerr said. “There is so many people and pinpointing where or from who cigarette smoke is coming from is so difficult.”
Because the task is so difficult, Kerr said, the bylaw officers in Calgary and Edmonton are mainly relying on complaints from citizens.
“Now you are depending on people, not only knowing the person who is smoking, but to come forward and make a personal complaint,” he said.
While Kerr personally agrees that people should not smoke in public places, including outdoor venues, he is not sure it is enforceable.
“I have a little one too and I don’t want anyone smoking on a playground right beside where my kid is playing, but from the officer side it would be so difficult to enforce,” he said. “It would require walk-thru playgrounds, walk-thru splash parks, walk-thru all rodeo grounds on the off chance of being able to catch a smoker.”
Gerry St. Pierre, Barrhead mayor, asked if it was necessary to go as far as a bylaw saying he too agrees that people should not be smoking in parks and playgrounds.
“It is a matter of civic responsibility and common sense,” St. Pierre said. “Could we not have signs to remind people, ‘Out of courtesy to our children, please do not smoke within 10 metres or whatever distance from our children.’ Can we have signs without having a bylaw?”
Taylor said the town could put up signs asking people not to smoke, but without the teeth of a bylaw behind it, effectiveness would be questionable.
“How many people ignore signs now, such as the no parking signs, even when we have a bylaw,” Taylor asked.
Councilor Smith said he liked the idea of Barrhead enacting a no smoking bylaw.
“We could be somewhat of a leader in the province by having administration drafting a bylaw for the health and wellness or our community,” Smith said. “Yes, it would be hard to enforce, but it would be no different from many other bylaws that we have that are difficult to enforce. We just have to do the best that we can.”
Councillor Leslie Penny agreed saying she did not know how difficult the bylaw would be to enforce in relationship to the town’s other bylaws, but it was still worth pursuing.
“I know when legislation was passed saying that you could not smoke in a restaurant, it stopped people from smoking in restaurants,” she said. “I think we can bring about the understanding that we are doing this for the well-being of residents and I would support putting together a non-smoking bylaw for our public places.”
St. Pierre asked town administration what the costs of enacting a bylaw would be.
Taylor responded it would take some time to draft an appropriate bylaw, so there would be additional legal costs, in addition to the amount needed to put up the appropriate signs, but the costs should be minimal.
Councillor Ty Assaf, said he too, in principal was in favour of having a non-smoking bylaw, but wondered if a compromise was possible.
“Could we not designate certain areas in an area where smoking was allowed,” Assaf asked. “Take a look at Cecil Martin Park. It is a huge area, could we not have an area where smokers could go?”
Kerr said that both Calgary and Edmonton had provisions in their non-smoking bylaw that allowed them to designate special smoking zones, as long as there is appropriate signage.
Councillor Ryan Warehime also agreed with the concept of a nonsmoking bylaw, but thought it would be too difficult to enforce and suggested education would be a better route to take.
“There are so many areas in Barrhead where the law would have to be enforced, not just the parks,” Warehime said. “Everywhere you look there would have to be a sign up. I think putting our efforts into education is a better way to go.”
Council then instructed administration to research and draft a nonsmoking bylaw to present to council at a future meeting.
