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Letters January, 2002
Dear Editor:
True to form, The Citizen's coverage of the bylaw issue is biased and
misleading ("Bar loses Round 1 of smoking fight," B1, 31 January 2002).
Having sat through the entire trial and Justice Switzer's reading of his
ruling, I have to wonder whether reporter Jake Rupert was there or whether
he simply asked PUBCO for an accounting of what happened.
Justice Switzer explained the requirements in Canadian law for a defendant
to make a successful "due diligence" argument, in other words to prove that
he did everything necessary to follow the law. To comply with the smoking
bylaw, proprietors are expected to follow a series of steps, as they would
to solicit compliance with many other laws. First they are to ask the
patrons to stop smoking. If the patrons persist, they are to be refused
service. If they continue to smoke, they are to be asked to leave. If they
refuse to leave and refuse to stop smoking, bylaw services are to be called.
If the situation becomes threatening, the police can be called. This
procedure is a far cry from The Citizen's accounting of what proprietors are
expected to do: "if people don't butt out, they can be treated as
trespassers and forcibly removed."
The steps outlined by Justice Switzer are precisely the procedure bar owners
follow in dealing with intoxicated customers (omitting the call to bylaw).
The Justice furthermore found no evidence to indicate that patrons being
asked to stop smoking are likely to resort to violence as reporter Jake
Rupert indicated. ("If they continued to smoke, the staff didn't throw them
out because that would place them in violent situations.")
Ottawa's bylaws banning smoking in public places and workplaces are
tremendous advances for public health-not only for our residents but also
for the citizens of other municipalities who are seeking to emulate our
success. The courts have ruled time and time again that such bylaws are
legal and enforceable. It's time PUBCO members got the message and stopped
wasting taxpayers' money on frivolous lawsuits. It is also time that The
Citizen started ensuring that its reporters acted like objective journalists
and not like PUBCO's hucksters.
M.L.Tilson
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