Letters
to the Editor
The Ottawa Citizen
Re: City buries the smoking gun, Sept. 21.
In his continuing crusade against Ottawa's smoke-free bylaw, columnist
Ron Corbett is yet again grasping at straws. There is no smoking gun.
While the city may not have published the survey finding that a higher
percentage of respondents supported a ban on smoking in public
places with an allowance for designated smoking rooms, the case on
which Ottawa council based its decision to support the bylaw remains
sound.
- A strong majority of residents polled -- 74 per cent -- supported a
complete ban on smoking in public places and workplaces.
- Many thousands of Ottawa residents communicated their strong
support for the proposed bylaw to their councillors via postcards,
letters, e-mails and phone calls. A majority of presentations to the
health committee were in support of the smoking ban.
- Designated smoking rooms do not protect patrons or workers from
second-hand smoke because there is no ventilation technology
currently on the market that can reduce the toxins to an acceptable
level of risk.
- Separately ventilated smoking rooms are costly to install; many
businesses have neither the financial means nor the floor space for a
smoking room.
- Councillor Diane Deans asked every hospitality representative who
testified before the health committee whether he or she supported an
allowance for designated smoking rooms. There was no consensus
among bar and restaurant owners. Many opposed the idea because it
would create an unlevel playing field among establishments.
- There are numerous studies based on hard data, such as sales tax
receipts, from thousands of establishments that show there is no
long-term harm to the hospitality sector from no-smoking bylaws.
Those studies that reportedly prove harm are based only on emotional
predictions or on the anecdotal testimony of a small subset of the
market.
So, Mr. Corbett, you can see the facts are overwhelmingly in support of
council's decision to implement a bylaw outlawing all smoking in public
places and workplaces.
Or maybe you could see if you stopped blowing smoke.
Melodie Tilson,
Orléans
© Copyright 2001 The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, September 27, 2001