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London Council Approves Smoking Ban [02 /19-1]

Excerpts from: Council approves ban on smoking

By MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter, The London Free Press [02 /18/03]

London's public places and workplaces will be smoke-free July 1 with no allowance for designated smoking rooms.

City council voted 12-7 last night in favour of the smoking ban after a two-hour debate before a standing-room-only crowd in the public gallery of council chambers.

The majority of signs and banners appeared to favour the designated smoking room option heralded as a "compromise" by the hospitality industry.

When that option was defeated, along with two failed bids to delay the smoking ban to either Sept. 1, 2003, or Jan. 1, 2004, the crowd erupted in angry jeers as police officers watched.

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco ordered a brief recess and some in the public gallery left in tears.

Medical officer of health Dr. Graham Pollett, who had pushed hard for bylaws that banned smoking rooms, praised council for tackling an issue that divided the community and will prove a political hot potato in the November municipal election.

"Council showed strong leadership," Pollett said. "We couldn't be happier."

But John Downing, co-owner of the downtown pub The Honest Lawyer, said city pubs and eateries will see sales slump and be forced to lay off staff as a result of the refusal to consider smoking rooms.

"I'm bitterly disappointed," he said.

Downing called it "very telling" Pollett acknowledged last night that unserviced designated smoking rooms -- proposed late in the debate by the hospitality industry -- were not considered a viable option by the panel seeking input on the bylaws.

"That option would have been rejected," Pollett said.

Coun. Roger Caranci -- who argued from the outset the London Licensed Restaurant Association should get the chance to test whether engineers at the University of Western Ontario can develop a safe smoking room -- managed to sway some to the idea.

Coun. Ab Chahbar said he couldn't dismiss the option without giving it a try.

Coun. Cheryl Miller said she was willing to let a smoking room model be tested, noting council isn't creating a "level playing field" because it's still going to allow smoking on outdoor patios.

"It's hypocritical to say we want a total ban, but we'll allow smoking on patios," Miller said.

She said the bylaw, as proposed, will cause "more harm than good" by driving parents who smoke into their own homes with their children present

She won no support for a call to ban smoking on restaurant and bar patios.

Controller Joe Swan tried unsuccessfully to amend the bylaw to permit smoking in "private rooms" such as a private meeting room in a convention centre.

DeCicco argued that proposal amounted to "a designated smoking room by a different name."

Coun. Fred Tranquilli said he remains concerned about the impact the bylaw will have on charities relying on bingo revenues. Council agreed to reactivate a bingo task force to help charities with alternative fundraising strategies.

Before last night's meeting, about 50 protesters marched from the Richmond Tavern to city hall to support the call for designated smoking rooms.

HOW THEY VOTED

- In favour of smoking bylaws that prohibit designated smoking rooms:

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco, Deputy Mayor Russ Monteith, Controllers Gord Hume and Joe Swan, Councillors David Winninger, Rob Alder, Sandy Levin, Harold Usher, Ed Corrigan, Joni Baechler, Susan Eagle and Bill Armstrong.

- Opposed to the bylaws, meaning they support designated smoking rooms:

Controller Bud Polhill and Councillors Fred Tranquilli, Ab Chahbar, Gary Williams, Bernie MacDonald, Roger Caranci and Cheryl Miller.