Relayed
by GLOBALink - The International Tobacco-Control Network
By PETER
McLAUGHLIN / The Daily News Source: Canada.com, 2002-05-14,
via tobacco.org Region:CANADA
Category: Smokefree Policies
URL: http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=04CE5106-AA2C-4054-
97E2-A3640BE87302
Restaurant and bar owners put up a fiesty defence for their
smoking customers yesterday, saying government's proposed smoke-free
places legislation will financially cripple their businesses.
Mike Tolmazoff,
owner of Bedford's Oakmount Station, said government meddling
will probably destroy his 10-year-old pub, which draws mostly
smokers.
"I've
worked hard for 10 years and I don't want to lose it all,''
he told the law amendments committee. "I will not stand
by and let the government put me out of business.''
The bill
bans smoking in all bars, lounges and restaurants where there
could be people under 19, unless they build separately ventilated
rooms that can't exceed 25 per cent of the seating.
Tolmazoff,
who may have to declare his bar adults-only, said 75 per cent
of Oakmount Station patrons smoke.
He wanted
government held accountable for at least a portion of the cost
of renovations to meet the new law or to grandfather existing
businesses.
"Passing
this legislation without modification could cause a catastrophe,''
said John O'Hearn, of the Lounge and Beverage Room Association
of Nova Scotia.
He said
the law will erode the customer base, meaning lost jobs, lower
revenues and business failures. Kevin Keefe, owner of the Granite
Brewery, said he has yet to see overwhelming support for smoke-free
legislation.
"There's
no clamour for smoke-free restaurants in this province,"
he said, arguing the push seems to be coming from health bureaucrats
on the government payroll.
Keefe said
he's also frustrated owners will likely be the ones having to
police the new law and will be the one's penalized if there
are infractions.
He took
a swipe at government, which turns the other way when bylaw-snubbing
MLAs smoke illegally on the door steps of Province House.
"Why
pass these laws? No one will enforce them,'' he said. "When
I walk past this legislature on the way to the bank I always
see three or four MLAs smoking within 30-feet of the doorway,
which is against the law.''
Robert McKelvie,
who owns four Halifax restaurants, Hogie's, McKelvie's, Le Bistro
and Salty's, said smoking sections should be expanded to 40
per cent and the outdoor patio smoking ban lifted.
pmclaughin@hfxnews.southam.ca
Copyright
2002 The Daily News ---
