Lighting up near recreation areas and doors to city-owned buildings could soon warrant a fine. The city’s community services committee will recommend Oct. 9 that council pass a bylaw prohibiting smoking within 9 metres (30 feet) of places like playgrounds and building entrances. The recommendation comes after people showed overwhelming support Monday for a much more stringent proposal that would have banned smoking in parks all together.
Five people spoke in favour of the ban and several others submitted letters of support in advance. Some said protecting kids should be one of the main reasons for taking the route. “We’re fortunate as Canadians to be able to choose to do many things, one of those is to smoke or not to smoke,” Kimberly Cairns, a city resident, told the committee.
Children are exposed to smoke in parks “so, in essence, they are being forced to smoke,” she said. Only two people opposed to stricter rules took the floor. Anything that goes further than the Smoke-Free Ontario Act is akin to the “persecution of those addicted to tobacco,” city resident Michael Lewis. City officials have been mulling a new smoking rules since the Middlesex-London Health Unit suggested it in February. Administrators researched the idea and presented councillors with a variety of options in August.
They included posting signs suggesting people refrain from smoking in parks to creating designated smoking areas. An all-out ban was the most stringent suggestion. The option chosen at Monday’s committee meeting strikes the right balance, some councillors said. “We’ll send a message that we want a healthier community, but, again, it won’t push people away from certain activities,” said Coun. Bill Armstrong.
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