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October, 2003
PUBCO sues for unpaid fees
(Ottawa Sun, Oct 23)
A small claims court is playing host to a dozen suits launched by PUBCO to
recover unpaid membership fees from bars. Totalling up the claims from all
11 suits, PUBCO is looking for more than $14,700 in unpaid membership fees
and interest. Two bars have mounted no defence and PUBCO has won judgments
in default. Two other cases have not been settled. "It's not paradoxical
at all," said PUBCO manager Barry McKay when asked about the logic of
putting the squeeze on members of an industry his own group says has been
hit hard financially by Ottawa's public smoking ban bylaw. "We made an
agreement with these people to fight the bylaw in court." No guarantees
were made about whether the legal opposition to the bylaw would be
successful, he said. While most of the original Ottawa members have let
their memberships lapse, dwindling from 170 to only 40 today, McKay said the
group's membership is now about 340 provincewide.
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