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City of Toronto muses banning smoking on outdoor patios
I knew this day was coming. It's the next step down the slippery slope. Enjoy your smoking law!!
| quote: | You may not be able to fight City Hall, but you can at least finds loopholes around it. That seems to be the logic some Toronto bar owners are following, as the colder temperatures of fall lead them to heat up attempts to cater to smokers.
Under the city’s non-smoking bylaw, patrons who want to pursue their habits have to go outside. That was fine in the summer. But many merchants fear smoking pub patrons will take their business to warm places once the big chill of winter kicks in.
So they’ve begun sealing off part of their open air patios, and heating them with wood stoves or other energy sources, to keep the customers satisfied.
How are they getting away with it? One end of the patio is kept open. “We're adhering to the rules,” maintains manager John Holland. “We're keeping this wall open. According to the law, we have to keep one side of the patio open, but this allows us to work with everybody.”
It’s no surprise smokers like the idea. “I don't 100 percent agree with the bylaw that was instituted or the way it was instituted,” opines Sylvia Frank. “So this is, you know, the best we could do at the moment to try and sort of alleviate the discomfort that smokers are suffering.”
But Board of Health chair John Filion isn’t amused by the creative solution. “If for any reason somebody has found a loophole, then we'll close the loophole,” he vows. “And if people keep doing this sort of thing against the spirit of the bylaw, we may have to disallow the patios entirely.”
Filion plans to bring the issue to the next Board meeting, which could leave pub owners – and their would-be customers – out in the cold this winter.
October 5, 2004
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