The fate of smokers is being mulled over by Victoria City Hall.
Council is preparing to craft a new bylaw that will ban smoking in parks, playgrounds and public squares. The planned changes to smoking bylaws include an expansion of the so-called ‘buffer zone’ around building doorways and windows where smokers can light up, from three metres to seven metres.
“The proposal now is to expand it to public places, to parks and other places where people gather,” said Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin.
Dr. Murray Fyfe, a medical health officer, said all of the major health authorities are consistently reporting that there’s no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. “So the science really does support moving in this direction.”
Victoria councillor Shellie Gudgeon said there might be the possibility in the future that there could be an area set aside for smokers, which would be downwind from the public. “Previous to what we experienced back in the day with smoking sections on patios,” she said.
However, some are concerned this will severely restrict where smokers can lights up, especially downtown.
“It just seems like an impractical, just over-the-top,” said Phil Turcotte from Goodfellas Cigar Shop. “If you want it to be illegal it should be illegal and if it isn’t then people should really just respect other people’s choices a little bit.”
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