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Bar owners may get jail time for allowing smoking
The Record.com ^ | June 18, 2002 | JEFF OUTHIT

Posted on 06/18/2002 12:12:08 PM PDT by SheLion

WATERLOO REGION -- Stubborn bar owners may face jail for letting their customers smoke in Waterloo Region. Health staff have proposed asking justices of the peace for orders prohibiting convicted owners from breaking the smoking bylaw.

Owners could then be jailed for contempt of court if they breach the order and permit smoking.

It's thought the jail threat may be what's needed to dissuade 28 hard core premises that continue to flout the smoking ban after two years.

"What we are doing is stepping up the process basically to the maximum," said Brian Hatton, the region's director of environmental health.

"What we want is compliance. We don't want anybody to go to jail."

Alternatively, the region could seek Superior Court injunctions compelling owners to obey the no-smoking bylaw, an approach being tried in Ottawa with six proprietors.

The injunction approach could result in an order to close down a bar, or a jail sentence for its owner.

Both approaches could see bar owners face fines exceeding the current maximum of $5,000 for violating the smoking bylaw.

But some think jailing offenders is going too far, even though they want better enforcement.

Coun. Jane Brewer of Cambridge said she's "not convinced it's one of those things" that requires a jail sentence.

"I think there are other remedies that need to be looked at before we get to that," Brewer said.

The jail threat seems like overkill to Paul Weber, a Maryhill tavern owner who contends he's losing business to bars that flout the smoking ban.

"I think it's a little bit much," Weber said.

"You don't go to jail for beating people up in the park any more, so I don't know why you should go to jail for not enforcing the smoking bylaw?"

The jail threat is part of a proposed enforcement crackdown aimed at 28 stubborn establishments.

Councillors have also been advised to reassign six public health inspectors to help police the ban.

They would target the holdout establishments with repeated plainclothes visits.

As well, it's proposed the region stop giving bar owners three warnings in advance of charges.

Health staff say the crackdown, to be considered by councillors today, addresses complaints that a few establishments are stealing business away from 99 per cent of the industry that complies with the ban.

It comes a week after council tightened its bylaw by banning smoking at private functions like weddings and corporate events.

The next step for future debate, health staff say, is for council to reconsider smoking in taxis, workplaces, and private clubs like Royal Canadian Legion halls.

Unlike other communities, Waterloo Region exempted these places from its smoking ban.

Health staff now contend that some private clubs are admitting members of the public to smoke.

Also, extending the ban to these places would meet the region's goals by protecting employees and others from second-hand smoke.

Extra enforcement would come by reassigning six of 26 public health inspectors away from duties like food inspection and infection control, on a part-time basis.

The smoking ban is enforced by two bylaw officers. But their effectiveness is limited because they are widely recognized by owners.

In the meantime, it's also proposed that the region:

Continue educating the public about the dangers of smoking.

Consider new ways to conduct anti-smoking investigations.

Ask courts to impose big fines against repeat offenders.

Publicize the names of convicted owners in reports to council, as is done with food-safety violations.

Continue to advise the province's liquor licensing agency of establishments that violate the bylaw, to put their liquor licence at risk.

SMOKING INFRACTIONS

Today, people can be fined but not jailed for illegal smoking in enclosed public places.

€ 898 individuals have been convicted of illegal smoking. Most have faced fines reaching $255.

€ 19 proprietors have been convicted of permitting smoking. The highest fine has been $3,000. Most fines have been $1,000 or more.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Canada; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: antismokers; butts; cigarettes; individualliberty; niconazis; prohibitionists; pufflist; smokingbans; tobacco
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To: SheLion
Publicize the names of convicted owners in reports to council, as is done with food-safety violations.

I kinda like that idea- that way I'll know which bars to patronize.

121 posted on 06/18/2002 7:52:37 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
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To: Squawk 8888
Isn't it wild, they have pulled that stunt on more than one occation, thing got so nasty, the enforcers were afraid to go into an establishment without police escort.

Have a friend who told me he gets warned before a raid.... the warning comes from the cops. :-}

122 posted on 06/18/2002 8:20:57 PM PDT by Great Dane
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To: ned
"I just think that tobacco smoking is going to go the way of poodle skirts. But smokers are good and decent folks and I would like to see the transition from smoking be as gentle and as peaceful as possible."

On your site, Ned, you say you love freedom but you also apparently love being naive - smoking isn't going to go away in your lifetime even if the libernazi's try to legisilate it out of existence. Remember the Volstead Act and its success with liquor.

123 posted on 06/18/2002 9:28:03 PM PDT by Chu Gary
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To: ned
"I don't think that the Government can effectively stop people from smoking. I just think that it's going to be harder for the tobacco industry to get new recruits in the future. I really don't know how I would go about trying to talk a nonsmoker into becoming a smoker. Seems like a tough sell to me."

Ned, have you ever heard of "free will?" Do you have a problem with that term? It's a basic part of another word which is spelled with an "f" and a "r", a couple of "e's" followed by what many liberals are called "dom."

124 posted on 06/18/2002 9:41:46 PM PDT by Chu Gary
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To: SheLion
"You don't go to jail for beating people up in the park any more, so I don't know why you should go to jail for not enforcing the smoking bylaw?"

ROFL. The left doesn't care if you get beat up. They just want to force their social order upon you.

125 posted on 06/18/2002 9:45:09 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: Snowyman
as an adult no one has the right to tell you where ,when ,what, why or why not you can smoke. It's your choice, not theirs.

I'm assuming you mean no branch of any government.
A property owner SHOULD be able to tell you where ,when ,what, why or why not you can smoke on their property.

126 posted on 06/19/2002 6:02:35 AM PDT by Just another Joe
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To: SheLion
I dedicated the cigar I puffed last night on my deck to the most stubborn of those barowners.
127 posted on 06/19/2002 6:14:04 AM PDT by bloodmeridian
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To: Snowyman
Yes quiting smoking is a real pain, but if thats what one wishes to do then it's up to that person to make the decision, not government. We agree on that.
128 posted on 06/19/2002 7:22:57 AM PDT by PoppingSmoke
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To: Chu Gary
Ned, have you ever heard of "free will?" Do you have a problem with that term? It's a basic part of another word which is spelled with an "f" and a "r", a couple of "e's" followed by what many liberals are called "dom."

As I've said, I think that tobacco smoking is doomed. Any pleasure for the smoker is so marginal in comparison with the costs to the smoker that I just don't think it will continue to be a viable product. And as I've also said, I join you in your opposition to heavy-handed Government efforts to discourage adults from smoking.

As regards your comments concerning any association between cigarette smoking and "free will"/freedom, I think it's probably best to let adult cigarette smokers themselves draw their own conclusions about how addiction to a substance might affect "free will." I just know that most smokers that I have known have described the addiction to me in terms of a sense of dependence rather than a sense of freedom.

129 posted on 06/19/2002 7:38:53 AM PDT by ned
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To: SheLion
Nice web site, pretty gal too....
130 posted on 06/19/2002 8:02:35 AM PDT by PoppingSmoke
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To: SheLion
I certainly hope that the states that still allow smoking in bars and restaurants are watching this and when this type of legislation starts waving in the wind, they will loudly speak up against it, along with us smokers. This needs to stop.

What's the next target - private residences with children wouldn't surprise me.

131 posted on 06/19/2002 9:16:50 AM PDT by 3catsanadog
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To: 3catsanadog
What's the next target - private residences with children wouldn't surprise me.

They antis have been lobbying for a ban on in-home smoking for at least a couple of years. I have even heard it proposed, in all apparent seriousness, that the state should remove children from the homes of smokers.

132 posted on 06/20/2002 6:05:20 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
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