Relayed
by GLOBALink - The International Tobacco-Control Network
by Harry Sullivan / New Glasgow Evening News
Source: Canada.com, 2002-08-20, via tobacco.org
Region: CANADA
Category: Smokefree Policies
With
just over a month before New Glasgow's controversial smoking
bylaw goes into effect, opponents of the ban made a last-ditch
appeal to town council Monday night in an effort to gain some
breathing room in the regulations.
But once
again the group, consisting of owners, managers and employees
of New Glasgow's licensed establishments, were sent away disappointed.
"They
want to meet but they don't want to do anything," said
spokesperson Tom Brady, in echoing the sentiment of the 24 persons
who attended the session in the hopes of persuading council
to either relax its by-law regulations or delay the implementation
date.
Repeating
the message they have been stating since before the bylaw was
approved last spring, a number of speakers who appeared before
council said without some concessions in one of those areas
they will be forced to watch their business be driven away.
"I
certainly will be closing one of those two places right away,"
Brady said during the meeting, of his establishments Wranglers
Lounge & Restaurant and the Colonial Beverage Room.
"It
may be both," he added, outside council chambers as the
disgruntled group left the building.
The town's
smoking by-law, which absolutely bans all smoking within public
buildings, is set to go into effect Oct. 1. With that deadline
looming the group asked for one more opportunity to sit down
with council to discuss other alternatives to the 100 per cent
ban.
Suggestions
put forth included the consideration of permitting owners to
install expensive ventilation systems; watering down the regulations
to match provincial legislation or delaying implementation of
the bylaw until the provincial legislation comes into effect
next Jan. 1.
"This
is an issue that concerns us greatly," Brady said. "Once
our business has split we won't get it back."
Karen Lariziere,
who represents the national franchise for Dooly's billiard rooms,
said she watched business decline by at least 20 per cent in
Ontario cities that imposed similar smoking bans. But she predicted
that impact will be felt far more greater in an area the size
of New Glasgow, especially where there are so many nearby communities
where smoking bans do not exist.
"I
do believe that in a small area like New Glasgow it will be
devastating to myself and others," she said. "A lot
of businesses here will close without a doubt. Staff will
lose their jobs."
And to add
salt to the wound, alluded Extremes Lounge co-owner Bruce Williams,
establishment owners in neighbouring communities have gleefully
indicated they cannot wait for the ban to be implemented.
"All
we want is fair play," he said. "We're trying to work
together here and you guys aren't giving us any direction but
down."
Williams
said he has been investigating ventilation systems that cost
as much as $60,000 but which leave the air almost entirely smoke
free.
Council,
however, was not willing to budge. While Mayor Ann MacLean repeatedly
stated that until Oct. 1 the door is open to further discussion,
she and other councillors who spoke said neither the 100 per
cent smoke free policy nor the implementation dates are negotiable.
"If you don't sit down and try to meet, then those options
are not forthcoming."
And while
MacLean acknowledged that those concerned do have some legitimate
concerns about seeing a reduction in business, she said it is
also council's moral and mandated responsibility to set guidelines
for the greater good.
Copyright
2002 New Glasgow Evening News
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