Hampstead bans smoking in all public places

The town of Hampstead adopted its much scrutinized bylaw banning people from smoking anywhere on municipal property during a special council meeting on Monday night.

“I’m going to stand on the side of the vulnerable and not on the side of smokers. If it costs me votes, so be it,” Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg said before the bylaw was adopted in a vote that went five in favour and two opposed to adopting the bylaw.

The final draft of the bylaw reads: “Tobacco use on all municipal properties including parks, streets, sidewalks, municipal vehicles, municipal buildings and land adjacent to such buildings is prohibited.”

The town’s public security will enforce the bylaw. Anyone caught infringing the bylaw is liable to be fined. A first-time offender risks a minimum fine of $250. The amount of the fine doubles to a minimum of $500 for repeat offenders.

The bylaw includes: “Any tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and all other products or substances, vegetable or chemical, that can be smoked by any instrument.” Electronic cigarettes are exempt from the prohibition “however, provincial regulations continue to apply with respect to restrictions on the use of this product.”

The elephant in the community centre on Monday was the federal government’s plans this summer to legalize marijuana. But while almost all of the citizens who spoke up in support of the bylaw mentioned marijuana, Steinberg did not directly address the issue during the council meeting. His reference to siding with “the vulnerable” was to people who suffer the effects of second-hand smoke.

Steinberg joked about how much attention the bylaw has received in the media. He noted that while many media have reported the bylaw is a first for any municipality in Canada, the town of Kentville, N.S., adopted a similar bylaw in 2011. He said the bylaws were “nearly identical.”

“Perhaps if the media knew we weren’t the first we wouldn’t have gotten so much coverage,” Steinberg joked as at least four television cameras filmed the council meeting for the town with a population of more than 7,000.

At the start of the meeting, Steinberg quipped that “normally no one shows up” for the town’s council meetings.

But he also recognized the significance of the vote and suggested other small municipalities would adopt similar bylaws in the near future.

More than 20 citizens did show up and a few said they supported it being adopted because of the strong, distinctive odour that comes with marijuana. One resident said he was opposed to the bylaw because he feared it would motivate a protest by marijuana smokers in the quiet town this summer. Another man who opposed it rents an apartment below his home and expressed concern that the bylaw will force people to smoke indoors.

The two councillors who opposed adopting the bylaw — Warren Budning and Leon Elfassy — said they were not opposed to the bylaw being applied in public places like parks. But both councillors questioned how the bylaw could be realistically enforced and questioned why the final version of the bylaw wasn’t voted on during a regular council meeting where the public could have had more time to prepare and express opposition to it.

“(Enforcing the bylaw on) sidewalks and streets are a little bit tough for me,” Elfassy said.

Budning called the bylaw “overlegislation” and “excessive,” while criticizing the town for not seeking input from smokers who work for the municipality.

Steinberg said he will be sending out a mailer to residents explaining the bylaw in more detail, including how it will be enforced.