405 replies to this topic

[Baro]

In Europe I saw tons of parents pushing strollers with babies into smoky restaurants then smoking them selves. I guess they want to get their baby's tolerances up early. I don't blame them since you can't escape the smoke there. My wife as one of Russia's few non-smokers is SUPER excited to come here. Not just from stats-can's apparent 8% smoking rate in BC but from this crazy crazy alien concept that there's actually buildings in the city that aren't fully clouded with smoke, let alone the fact that ALL buildings are smoke-free here. She's pretty excited.

[osmich]

Baro -

Nice story! I think the stats are somewhat off with the 8% non-smokers rate in BC. It is more like around 14-15% but still very very low.

Come January 2008 more laws will be in place to stop smoking in public places and they cannot come soon enough.

http://www.tobaccofacts.org/ has all information for British Columbia.

[osmich]

Schwarzenegger signs bill banning smoking in cars with children
By Steve Lawrence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:36 p.m. October 10, 2007
SACRAMENTO – California motorists will risk fines of up to $100 if they smoke in cars carrying children starting next year.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed a bill that will make it an infraction to smoke in a vehicle if someone under age 18 is present. But the traffic stop would have to be made for another offense, such as speeding or an illegal turn, before the driver could be cited for smoking.
The bill's author, state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, agreed to make that change in the bill to assure its approval by the Assembly, said her spokesman, Ray Sotero.
The ban, which takes effect Jan. 1, is the latest in a string of smoking prohibitions adopted in California. They include a ban on smoking in enclosed workplaces and within 25 feet of a playground.
Oropeza said the new law will protect children against secondhand smoke. A Harvard School of Public Health report issued last year said secondhand smoke in cars can be up to 10 times more of a health risk than secondhand smoke in a home.

It should be noted that a trafic stop must be made for another offense, such as speeding, before the driver could be cited for smoking. That is just rediculous! What is the point of the law.

Anyway, hopefully Victoria will consider something along these lines but actually bust people for smoking with their young kids in the car with the windows rolled up (or down.)

[VicHockeyFan]

Go to any "working-mans" bar after 4:30 PM on any weekday. CRD is not putting any inspectors on after 4:30. There is lots of non-smoke-free around.

[osmich]

There is smoking going on? Name a few please.

[Caramia]

Um don't name them... this is still a public message board!

[VicHockeyFan]

Um don't name them... this is still a public message board!

Even if they were named, nobody would investigate after 4:30pm M-F. And a complaint can't get a ticket from them, only a visit during bankers hours by the inspector, who must then observe a violation in progress. Some bars have partitioned their patios, 1/2 for smoking only, 1/2 for eating/drinking only. One I know does it on a table-by-table basis. You can smoke at any table you want to outside provided no one else at that table is eating/drinking at the same time.

[osmich]

Well there certainly is enough trash talk about lot's of other places on here that are named so I am not sure why naming a place that has smokers still lighting up is so bad. I would like to avoid these places and would like to know which ones they are. Thanks.

[osmich]

Um don't name them... this is still a public message board!

Even if they were named, nobody would investigate after 4:30pm M-F. And a complaint can't get a ticket from them, only a visit during bankers hours by the inspector, who must then observe a violation in progress. Some bars have partitioned their patios, 1/2 for smoking only, 1/2 for eating/drinking only. One I know does it on a table-by-table basis. You can smoke at any table you want to outside provided no one else at that table is eating/drinking at the same time.

Which one is that VicHockeyFan?

[Mike K.]

Trash talking a restaurants' food is one thing, but stating, whether it be fact or not, that an establishment is breaking the law by allowing patrons to smoke is potentially libelous and we request that such information is not displayed here. Sorry.

osmich, if you want to ask someone directly about this I would recommend using the private messaging system which is not accessible to anyone beyond the user and the other party.

[osmich]

You are kidding right? What would be so libelous about saying that Starbucks in James Bay still has people smoking on their patios when their are signs clearly stating that a bylaw is in effect? It is a fact and not made up.

The bylaw is in educational mode at the moment and they are not issuing fines to companies or people. It is all about awareness at the moment and this website is all about awareness isn't it?

Basically you are saying that the right to free speech stops somewhere. Like the guy who wrote the automobile article about buying a car across the border for the Victoria News and then got fired or quit because the hire ups were worried about ad revenues from the local car dealerships. Is that the kind of website this is?

Do you know how much "potentially" libelous (as someone says) stuff has been written on most of the threads already - if you really want to get down to the nitty gritty on this subject. You would have to delete many threads.

[Mike K.]

The right to free speech ends where the potential for a lawsuit begins.

Unless you have a photograph clearly showing the location of an establishment, clearly showing at least one patron smoking where one ought not to be smoking and can prove the photo was taken after the bylaw took effect (which in itself would be difficult to do) then we can be legally held responsible for the content.

However, you could, should you want to, post your full name and contact information alongside any material that could be libelous or could be grounds for a defamation suit. That way we are cleared, but under a pseudonym the hammer falls on us. Sorry, but that's the reality of online, publicly accessible discussion boards.

[VicHockeyFan]

The bylaw is in educational mode at the moment and they are not issuing fines to companies or people. It is all about awareness at the moment and this website is all about awareness isn't it?

As of last week that had indeed issued over 20 fines, both to individuals patrons and businesses.

[osmich]

I should have said that they were "not necessarily" issuing fines and that much of it was educational at this point however anyone who, after being warned, will be fined and issued a violation. I stand corrected.

Can you say who was fined since they have already been fined and it would not be libelous information?

[VicHockeyFan]

I should have said that they were "not necessarily" issuing fines and that much of it was educational at this point however anyone who, after being warned, will be fined and issued a violation. I stand corrected.

Can you say who was fined since they have already been fined and it would not be libelous information?

I'm not sure they are posted anywhere. But I was told this first-hand by a CRD Clean-air enforcement officer. He didn't name names.

[osmich]

Starting March 1, 2008 all VIHA properties will be smoke free! That means when you walk out of RJH you won't have to walk through plumes of smoke from people hooked up to IV's and oxygen tanks.

On another fine note, the BC Government's Throne Speech today mentioned that in 2010 a ban will be in place that will enforce no smoking in cars while your kids are in the backseat. Why does it take so long for these bans to take place when the damage is happening right now?

Hopefully there will one day be a permanent ban on tobacco period!

[Holden West]

Hopefully there will one day be a permanent ban on tobacco period!

Oh, yeah. That'll be a great success.

British Columbia’s experiment with [alcohol] prohibition soon degenerated into a hopeless morass of corruption, scandal, favouritism, class conflict, freelance informants, bureaucratic ineptitude, and racism.

[osmich]

Okay, so we got the smokers out of the restaurants, then off the patios, now we just need to get them off the sidewalks.

Is it just me or is it more and more difficult to navigate the streets of downtown and lots of other places without having to duck and weave through plumes of cigarette smoke?

It is getting a bit rediculous isn't it? Almost time to let the Chief Medical Officer off his leash and get back into city hall to tell them like it is.

[G-Man]

Actually I believe it would be getting better as less and less people are smoking.

[B.Bridge]

VIHA was on CBC this morning. While staff are being offered incentives to quit, staff and patients who still can't understand the concept of health will have to smoke off property. There goes the neighbourhood.