Ten years of Ottawa's non-smoking bylaw

[IcedCanuck]

CTV Ottawa - Ten years of Ottawa's non-smoking bylaw

Ten years ago Monday, the difficult implementation of the non-smoking bylaw in Ottawa's restaurants and bars came into effect.

The start of the ban is being remembered as hard on smokers, businesses and even the officials who worked on it.

"I had a body guard, I had death threats, I had a police escort. . . It was rough for my family and for me," said Dr. Robert Cushman. "I guess I didn't know how wild that horse was going to be, but I am glad we did it."

While smoking in a restaurant would seem strange in 2011, not everyone followed when it was first put in place on Aug. 1, 2011.

"We virtually had officers working 24 hours a day to check on bars and restaurants," said Linda Anderson, Ottawa Bylaw Chief.

In the first year, bylaw officers gave out 3,000 fines in the face of smoking protests and restaurants defying the ban, including one bar racking up $35,000 in fines.

"We had a test case go through with those fines; the courts upheld them so they owed $35,000," Anderson said. "When that hit the media, several of the other non-compliant places quickly came into compliance."

The final push for the ban in Ottawa came from the story of Heather Crowe, who died of second-hand smoke after years of working in smoke-filled restaurants.

Ottawa turned out to be a precedent for many other North American cities who put in similar bans afterward, but even today the city isn't finished.

The council for health and safety currently wants smoking banned on patios and in playgrounds and beaches.

Holy crap, enough is enough already. This is freaking crazy! I dare anyone to produce any valid evidence that proves the odd waft of cigar or cigarette smoke ever produced any type of sickness what so ever. Give me a freaking break.

[Orion21]

Just another example of pencil pushers who want to legislate how everyone lives their lives "for the good of everyone." It's discrimination wrapped in health laws. Next they will set limits on how much butter, oil and sugar we can consume because it causes health issues that increase the cost of healthcare. It's called a slippery slope and we are increasing in velocity. There has to be a limit on government power and the only way to do that is vote these people out of office.

[gigabyte056]

They were right stopping smoking in closed public places.

Don't enjoy my meal when someone is blowing smoke in my face.

They should govern the obvious and not go looking for problems where they don't exist