Bar owners may get jail time for allowing smoking

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.