EDMONTON – City council will consider next week banning smoking around playgrounds, sports fields, rinks and other outdoor sites used by children.
A survey done for the city last month found up to 80 per cent of respondents want to regulate smoking in public areas commonly used by children, although the most popular form of regulation was an education campaign.
“A bylaw will raise awareness about the issue and act as a powerful deterrent to this behaviour,” Dr. Candice Nykiforuk of the Alberta Policy Coalition for Cancer Prevention told council’s community services committee.
“It will create a culture in Edmonton where healthy activities are seen as normal.”
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But Coun. Kerry Diotte said a smoking ban around play areas could create concerns Edmonton is becoming a “nanny state.”
“One of the things I have noticed is a lack of public outcry for this. I can’t think of one instance where someone has called my office and said we have an epidemic of adults smoking near playgrounds,” he said.
“To me, it’s not a big issue.”
A motion introduced by Coun. Linda Sloan, which didn’t come to a vote before the matter was referred to city council, called for a ban on smoking around playgrounds, spray parks, outdoor fields and courts, rinks and skate parks.
She also wanted an education campaign and a survey in one year to gauge public reaction to the program.
“People continue to smoke, and they continue to smoke in proximity to young people,” Sloan said.
“If you have someone standing beside my five-year-old child and he’s smoking … it isn’t just a matter of my using peer pressure to say ‘don’t smoke,’ it’s a matter of being able to say it’s the law.”
Staff need to define how far from playgrounds people could smoke, whether to set up ashtrays nearby and how much the program would cost, community standards branch manager David Aitken said.
If a bylaw is approved, the fine for violation would probably be $250, he said.
About 50 Canadian municipalities have some restriction on lighting up around play areas.
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