Smoking bylaw is actually working in Waterloo

Restaurant and bar owners that resisted a smoking bylaw have changed their minds, now that the bylaw is actually in effect

By: Scott Piatkowski

  WATERLOO - Seventeen months ago, you would have been hard pressed to find a bar owner who had anything good to say about Waterloo Region's smoking bylaw. As its toughest provisions came into effect, businesses affected by it were almost unanimous in condemning it. The bylaw was unenforceable, they argued, and would all but drive them out of business.
  Contrast that with the recent remarks of Sandra Jackson, manager of the Failte Irish Pub. In a May 2 article in the Toronto Sun, Jackson was quoted saying that "it (the bylaw) hasn't affected us at all. We're all for it." While smokers did stay away at first, she says, they've come back. "Smokers have just learned to accept it." Most significantly, "food sales have gone up. A lot more people want to eat now that there isn't the smoke... (In the past) you couldn't even see across the room, your eyes would just burn," said Jackson, who originally thought the bylaw would put her out of business.
 

Of course, some bars, restaurants and bingos have gone out of business since January 2000. Critics forget they frequently went of out business before there were any rules about the quality of their airspace.

  Of course, some bars, restaurants and bingos have gone out of business since January 2000. What critics forget is that they frequently went of out business before there were any rules about the quality of their airspace.
  The owners of the now-defunct Lulu's, for example, were quick to finger the smoking bylaw as the culprit behind their demise. This excuse ignores any culpability that they might have had due to poor business practices or other factors. Lulu's was closed on December 31, 1999, the day before the bylaw came into effect, because it couldn't sell enough tickets for a planned concert to justify opening.
  At least two local donut shops blamed "the smoking police" for their need to close up shop. The fact that both are across the street from spanking new Tim Hortons franchises wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it? Tim Hortons implemented a province wide smoking ban in its restaurants in January 1999. As for the closure of the bingo in Waterloo, that probably had more to do with the introduction of slot machines at area racetracks and the opening of a casino in Brantford.
  Opponents of the smoking bylaw estimated that public outrage over the bylaw was so great that they would be able to oust councillors who refused to give in to their demands. When the ballots were counted last November, the purge didn't happen.
  Some bar and restaurant owners continue their opposition to the bylaw, but the majority are learning to live with it, even if they do not support it as enthusiastically as Jackson. In nearby Guelph, some are persisting with the legal fight that has already been abandoned in Waterloo Region. They argue, among other things, that the bylaw discriminates against nicotine addicts on the basis of their "disability". Even if one accepts the questionable proposition that smoking is a disability, this is a silly argument. Unlike an establishment without a wheelchair ramp, for example, the smoking bylaw does nothing to deny service to smokers. It simply requires them to refrain from smoking when they are inside.
  Meanwhile, a small number of businesses continue to defy the rules. Five have been convicted of allowing smoking, including the Station Hotel, which has been convicted twice. Thirty-seven other establishments are facing one or more charges. "We are trying to get voluntary compliance," says Brian Hatton, the official in charge of administering the bylaw. "That's why we have a system of warning steps. If they show willingness to co-operate, we work with them to gain compliance... (but)when we walk into some of these places, and even the staff are smoking, it means the management is not enforcing the law."
  When I go into a restaurant outside of Waterloo Region or Guelph, I am sometimes hit with an offensive cloud of smoke. It's such a shock to my senses that I can hardly believe that we used to have to tolerate such conditions in this area. Dining out or going to a bar in Waterloo Region is a smoke-free pleasure. Hats off to the politicians and public servants who stuck to their positions and made this bylaw work.

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