C.D.N.–N.D.G. smoking ban in parks likely headed to defeat

Montreal’s most populous borough will consider banning smoking tobacco and cannabis in all of its public parks on Monday.

“There’s no safe level of secondhand smoke and parks are places where kids and adults go to enjoy themselves,” said Snowdon city Coun. Marvin Rotrand. “No one should have to breathe in someone else’s smoke.”

Rotrand and fellow councillor Lionel Perez will present a motion at Monday’s Côte-des-Neiges — Notre-Dame-de-Grâce council meeting recommending the borough ban all types of smoking in parks.

At the moment, a Quebec law bars smoking tobacco and cannabis within nine metres of children’s playgrounds, splash pads and wading pools. Smokers are free to puff in other parts of parks.

Smoking in parks is already prohibited in several municipalities around C.D.N.–N.D.G., including Westmount and Côte- St-Luc. One neighbouring town, Hampstead, went one step further, banning smoking in all public places, including streets and sidewalks.

Rotrand said a smoking ban in C.D.N.–N.D.G. parks “would be generally respected as long as there are signs posted and the information gets out there.”

The U.S.-based Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation has found that more than 1,500 American cities have banned smoking in parks. They include New York City and Los Angeles.

“Smoke-free park policies are easy to enforce, as the policy is generally self-enforcing, meaning that residents will police themselves and co-operate with the law,” the foundation said in a letter supporting Rotrand’s motion.

Rotrand and Perez are opposition councillors. Three of the borough’s five councillors and the borough’s mayor, Sue Montgomery, are members of Mayor Valérie Plante’s Projet Montréal party.

Montgomery said her party’s councillors will vote against the motion.

“It would be unenforceable” because so few inspectors are available to crack down on smokers, she said. “You can pass all the bylaws you want, but if it’s unenforceable then it would just be posturing.”

She said Quebec’s public health department and other experts have argued against bans that cover all public places. “So many people in Montreal rent so if we ban it in public spaces, then they’ll have no place to smoke, which is a bit oppressive,” Montgomery said. “And if they smoke at home, others in the home, including children, would have to inhale second-hand smoke.”

She said she would be open to banning smoking in public parks during family events.