The City of North Vancouver is rejecting a motion to ban smoking in public areas.
City staff had already recommended that council deny the blanket restriction.
The motion came forward after residents wanted to see smoking banned on West 1st Ave.
Mayor Darrell Mussatto says bylaw officers wouldn’t be able to identify anyone to ticket, so when the city spoke with RCMP, they said it wouldn’t be a high priority for officers.
“Council had to make that tough decision to say ‘do we do a bylaw that the police will only enforce when they’re able to because they have other priorities?'” he said.
“And how fair would that be for the rest of the city, for people who wanted no smoking on other streets? So we decided to stay with the voluntary compliance, the voluntary prohibition.”
Mussatto says there is a bylaw in place that bans smoking a certain distance from doors for WorkSafe B.C. standards.
“We’re hoping that if people do have to smoke, that they’ll go to other areas where there’s not many people around, especially near doors and windows so it doesn’t bother other people,” he said.