TIMES COLONIST

Victoria, B.C.

March 25, 1999

CRD Smoking Ban Coalition turns to Province in bylaw battle

by Bill Cleverley Times Colonist staff

After a last-gasp appeal failed, a coalition against the capital region's smoking ban has vowed to take its fight to the province.

Speaker after speaker Wednesday couldn't sway Capital Regional District directors from amending the clean-air bylaw to make business owners responsible for forcing patrons to butt out, rather than bylaw officers just ticketing the smokers.

So the Victoria Freedom of Choice Coalition will call on the province to conduct an inquiry into CRD board actions and into at least three CRD staff over what it calls a discriminatory bylaw.

"The CRD's senior enforcement manager Diane Stevenson has publicly stated that enforcement will be targeted at those establishments that have defied the law," Coalition spokesman Brian Mayzes, manager of Esquimalt Inn, read from a prepared statement following the board decision.

"Privately CRD enforcement personnel have either turned a blind eye or cut a private deal with certain hospitality establishments who have allowed smoking in their establishments but have not publicly defied the bylaw."

CRD directors were told Wednesday at least 20 Greater Victoria hotels still offer smoking or non-smoking rooms to guests. Yet seniors in long-term-care facilities are being forced out of their common rooms.

Mayzes said a survey of 35 licensed premises found only four were fully in compliance with the bylaw, "leaving 31 who were allowing smokers to light up, six of which have never been visited by CRD enforcement staff. A survey of 540 public buildings in the capital region found over 60 percent were in violation of the signage portion of the bylaw including one well-known pub. Only one ticket has been issued for lack of signage.

He said the Coalition will contact Municipal Affairs Minister Jenny Kwan to present evidence on the need for an inquiry including:

* Violations of the Municipal Act in bylaw amendment procedures

* Municipal Act violations in funding of the administration, implementation and enforcement of the bylaw

* Senior staff misleading the public and CRD directors, specifically in areas of the cost of bylaw enforcement and the success of a similar California law.

The bylaw amendment calls for both owners and customers to be subject to a B. C. Supreme Court injunction after three bylaw tickets or written warnings. For a business, an injunction carries the risk of a shutdown, according to CRD staff.

The amendment must now go to the Health Minister for approval since it is part of a health-related bylaw.

More than 40 onlookers packed the CRD chambers Wednesday, cheering each speaker against the bylaw.

Malcolm Palmer, of the Elephant and Castle on Government Street, said he has been 100 percent compliant with the bylaw from its Jan 4 introduction, but it has been costly.

"The Leonardo exhibition had a tremendous impact on Victoria as a whole. My food sales did increase but my over-all alcohol sales for January/February period are $11,000-+ down, a lost revenue of $1,870 in provincial taxes, and this is just one single-revenue generating business in a very short span of time.

"I have lost many, many regular customers both for lunch and evenings. I have experienced insults from our tourists who say they will not be back," Palmer said.