Enhancing Outdoor Tobacco Use Rules
Prince George, B.C. – Should there be an expansion of the bylaw which regulates where people can smoke outdoors in Prince George?
That’s the question City staff have been attempting to answer and will present a report to Council this evening, asking for further direction.
It was August when a delegation from the Canadian Cancer Society made a presentation to Council calling for some changed to the outdoor tobacco bylaw.
The report details some of the extra restrictions that have been put in place by other communities.
Some of the enhancements to provincial regulations in other communities include:
Increasing the buffer zone from doors windows air intakes and patios from 3 metres to 6 metres in Richmond, and 7.5 metres in Surrey and New Westminster
Adding buffer zones around bus shelters,
Expanding the ban of tobacco use from school grounds to all City managed recreation properties, and in some cases with buffer zones established around any outdoor sport facility.
Staff advise that if Council would like to see the current outdoor tobacco use bylaw enhanced, then Council should pass a resolution directing staff to prepare a draft bylaw for preliminary discussion with the public and stakeholders.
Comments
Maybe expand the rules on drinking by our City Officials while they are at it..since they got nothing better to do
The hospital comes to mind?
There should be a complete ban on smoking in public.
The Canadian Cancer Society has the statistics about cancer caused by smoking and second hand smoke.,If it concluded that stricter rules should be in place to protect the public from tobacco smoke there must be valid reasons. It shouldn’t take the council more than 20 minutes to do the right thing.
I agree with this, especially around the hospital. I’ll add to the discussion, the disgusting mess of cigarette butts left behind by mindless smokers. This is not only a health problem but a littering one as well…
Why don’t they ban them if they are so bad? Oh yeah the government makes a ton of money off of selling them!
the 3 meter buffer here sure doesn’t work.
the smokers just step out from the building and you still have to walk through a cloud of smoke.
I don’t know the answer.
I am an exsmoker but if I started again I think it would be fair to say I would keep my smoking to myself… in my car, outdoors away from others or in my own home.
Regulate my ass,getting worse than Russia and China.Look at the pollution we breath everyday smoking or not, so stop the planes, trains, cars, Mills gas plants and busses.Can’t we need them, just getting nuts.
Morons are still smoking too close to doors.
Smokers have been given enough chances to regulate themselves.
Banish them.
After you banish the smoking public, who you gonna whine to, lildigger ??
Signs don’t seem to work, especially around the hospital. People just don’t care.
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2014 @ 8:14 AM by JohnnyBelt
Signs don’t seem to work, especially around the hospital. People just don’t care.
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I think it’s more about their sense of entitlement then it is about not caring. It’s all about me, me, me! these days. And has been for a while. Signs don’t work and neither will any unenforced laws.
It is to bad people still smoke. Unfortunately they still have rights just like none smokers do. If people want change shouldn’t they go after the Government to band tobacco sales ? Oh yeah that would take away tax revenue.
Banning tobacco sales won’t cause people to stop smoking. It would just create a black market. The tax revenue from cigarettes helps offset the increased costs of smokers to the medical system. Those costs wouldn’t go away.
Off the subject what happened to the Cougers on Sat? What was the final score?
#1 reason why I can’t stand going to the hospital, with #2 being parking issues!
How about banning smoking in a car with two children strapped into car seats in the back while Mom and Dad puff away in the front with a window cracked open. Seems to me there’s bigger problems. Most PG By-laws are unenforced anyway, so write all the rules you want, and decent compliant people will obey them, and the usual don’t give a crap crowd won’t.
Example, the RV by-law – that’s now going to be enforced – how about the – don’t park your car on the sidewalk by-law – enforce that. Must suck when you’re in a scooter and you have to detour onto the street because some jerk parked his car half on the sidewalk, half on the road, or, on his driveway, but across the sidewalk. Such an easy by-law to enforce. It requires A: By-law officer getting out of his chair, B – leaving the safety and comfort of the new RCMP building, and C, just opening his eyes because it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
Posted on Monday, September 29, 2014 @ 10:59 AM by ski51
How about banning smoking in a car with two children strapped into car seats in the back while Mom and Dad puff away in the front with a window cracked open. Seems to me there’s bigger problems
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That’s already illegal. $109 fine I do believe.
by the time a cop gets to where the offending smoker is they have had enough time to smoke more than one – cops have far better things to do in this town
JC what next! Another by law to enforce !!
Smokers have rights and pay taxes like everyone else. Most smokers would like to quit but can’t and most of the critics never smoked and don’t know what it is like to quit. OR sometimes the worst critics are ex smokers who are just feel smug in criticizing others who can’t. To be clear.. I don’t smoke but I did 40 years ago.
Bring in capital punishment for people that throw cigarettes out of the window of their car.
Other than that feel free to slowly commit suicide.
Isn’t committing suicide illegal?
Not if you pay your taxes on it apparently
Hey, what about the Cougers? I haven’t smoked for 30 years but have you ever worked in the BCR Industrial site? That’s when I ended up in the Hospital after not smoking for 20 years.
Cheers
I do believe that cigarette smoking does eat up alot of medical costs to the tax payers later in life, but let us also address the rise in childhood obesity in this country. Diabetes is on the rise and who do you think is going to pay for this crash down the road…..yes…the taxpayer. So when you walk by 150 lb 8 year old standing on the corner eating a bag of chips and sucking on a big gulp, please have the same attitude towards them as you do a smoker.
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