Ticketing may be a necessary next step if the Capital Regional District is going to be successful in snuffing out smoking in parks, at bus stops and in other public spaces, says the Island’s chief medical health officer.
Dr. Richard Stanwick said a ticket for a smoking violation hasn’t been issued since 2015 in the CRD. “That certainly could change in this coming year as we step up and move into this next stage of addressing these issues, but again, we would prefer to take the education route,” Stanwick told members of the CRD planning committee this week.
Committee members have recommended that the CRD board endorse bylaw amendments that will enable enforcement officers to issue $100 to $500 tickets for Clean Air Bylaw infractions.
It’s been two years since the CRD expanded the bylaw to make it illegal to light a cigarette at any park, playing field, bus stop, beach or public square in the capital region. The bylaw also extended the no-smoking zones around doorways, windows, air intakes and bus shelters to seven metres from three metres.
Island Health has been relying on public education and information campaigns to drill home the new rules, and Stanwick said results to date have been significant.
For example, during March and April of 2015, about 17.3 smokers per 1,000 park users were observed. A year later, that number had dropped to seven smokers per 1,000 park users, Stanwick said.
“This wasn’t just a differential where one might go for the more tony neighbourhoods and assume that that’s where you’re going to see the big major benefit. But in fact, we saw it across all neighbourhoods.”
Litter checks in a number of parks showed a significant decrease in the number of cigarette butts and cigarette-related garbage, Stanwick said.
Saanich Coun. Susan Brice, who chairs the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, said if increased enforcement is undertaken, bus stops should be a priority. In a park, it’s easy to walk away from someone who is smoking, she said, but at a bus stop, that option isn’t really available.
“The person has to wait at that bus stop with the smoker beside them or they’ll miss their bus. I do get complaints through the transit commission about people having to be subjected to smoke at bus stops,” Brice said.
Stanwick also said he will recommend further bylaw changes this year to harmonize CRD regulations and provincial regulations on vaping and to include vaping and smoking cannabis in the bylaw.
“Perhaps [we’ll] follow the lead of Vancouver, where what they have done is rather than defining the product, address the issue of smoke or smoking, and that would be whether it comes from a cigar, hookah pipe or a marijuana cigarette. The prohibitions would be in place,” he said.
Stanwick said marijuana smoke contains 33 of the same carcinogens that are in tobacco smoke.
“We will be definitely moving forward on this, because it’s going to be causing health issues.”
