16 January 2002

B.C.'s WCB province-wide smoking ban is no more.

By Craig Anctil, Forces Canada Member

British Columbia's Liberal government has decided not to introduce the Workers Compensation Board's (WCB) proposed smoking regulations within the province. The WCB's recommendations concerning hospitality industry workers' protection from second-hand smoke were put on hold in early September of 2001.

The concerns of hospitality business owners and employees concerning the economic impact of such regulations has been addressed by the government in a controversial manner. Under the government's own new indoor smoking regulations:
» Smoking will still be permitted in bars, restaurants, clubs, bingo halls, and casinos in locales that do not currently have existing bylaws of their own.
» Up to 45% of the venue's area can be allotted for smoking.

It is unclear what the exact stipulations of the new regulations actually are at the present time, including smoking areas which will be allowed provided they are separate rooms, a door is not required to installed between the two said areas.

These new regulations are a compromise to a total smoking ban for pubs and restaurants enacted by the WCB, as mandated by the previous NDP government.

These new regulations are likely to be challenged by hospitality business owners with venues existing in municipalities that have current smoking ban bylaws in place. There is no such thing as a level playing-field as the anti-smoking faction erroneously claims. Business owners with venues in municipalities that do not have smoking bylaws in place could be seen to have a clear advantage in attracting smokers from areas with 100% indoor smoking bylaws in place.

It is suspected that some municipalities may not enforce or lift their current smoking bylaws. Some others may enact new bylaws of their own.

In previous municipal court decisions in Vancouver and Burnaby two judges ruled, in separate cases, that business owners are not responsible for policing smoking bylaws. Enforcement of the new regulations will likely fall upon the municipalities who have indoor smoking bylaws. The onus of exactly who will insure compliance of the new regulations has not been announced.

It sadly appears the B.C. Liberal party is catering to Northern and other communities outside the greater Vancouver area where smoking rates were reported to be as high as 65% by the former NDP government. Many other business owners and their employees are being grossly short-changed by this new set of regulations in respect to freedom of choice. We have not heard the last word on this issue. May 01st is the current deadline for the new regulations. Expect "fireworks." Preferential treatment for certain businesses will surely be the undoing of this 'approach', and institute further compromise of the Liberal government's new smoking regulations.

The former government enacted the first province-wide ban through WCB regulation at the request of some municipalities that could not enforce their own bylaws. Citing California as its paradigm, along with the U.S. EPA study on second-hand smoke (ruled invalid in U.S. Supreme Court) as further motivation, the WCB province-wide ban was born. Enacted in the name of worker's health, B.C. became the first Canadian province to have a 100% indoor smoking ban. The NDP government in British Columbia felt that a province-wide indoor smoking ban would win them votes. They were wrong, dead wrong. A former majority government for two terms, the NDP now hold only two out of seventy-nine seats in the B.C. legislature. The province-wide smoking ban played a big role in that government's glaring defeat to the B.C. Liberal party. The Liberals have often criticized the NDP's heavy-handed implementation and the WCB's enforcement of the province-wide ban. They promised if elected they would take a more practical approach in eliminating smoking in the workplace. A ventilation solution (free-flow) was expected to be accepted by the Liberals. This still may happen. Court action by business owners affected by these new regulations is very likely to take place and soon.

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