Boulevards of tokin’ dreams?
Ottawa bylaws might restrict outdoor pot smokers to sidewalks
With a week to go before Canada legalizes recreational pot, one of the biggest question marks in Ontario is where people will be allowed to smoke it.
Ontario’s Conservative government plans to loosen restrictions to allow people to consume cannabis wherever they can legally smoke tobacco.
So lighting up in stores and restaurants would be banned, but smoking a joint while strolling down the sidewalk or visiting a park or beach would be allowed.
However, there’s a big caveat: municipalities can add their own restrictions on cannabis consumption.
Ottawa already has.
The city’s no-smoking bylaw bans lighting up in city parks, at beaches and on municipal property. That bylaw also applies to smoking cannabis, say city officials.
The new city council to be elected on Oct. 22 will decide whether any further restrictions should be imposed.
The prospect of Ottawans being allowed to smoke pot on sidewalks doesn’t sit well with some, including Mayor Jim Watson.
“I believe that cannabis should be treated like alcohol and it should not be consumed in open, public spaces,” said Watson in a statement.
A patchwork of rules will emerge across Ontario as municipalities decide how to deal with the complex issue. There is no simple solution.
The policy adopted by the previous Ontario Liberal government restricted pot smoking to private homes.
Critics said that left people in nosmoking apartments and condos with no place to consume a legal substance.
It also forced people to smoke at home where children might be present.
The Liberals said they would consider allowing cannabis lounges and smoking areas outside apartments and condos.
The Conservative government’s plan is to loosen restrictions to align cannabis use with the SmokeFree Ontario Act. Cannabis consumption would be treated more like cigarettes than alcohol. People could smoke pot wherever tobacco smoking is allowed.
That is, unless their municipality enacts further restrictions. Could a municipality pass a bylaw banning cannabis consumption in all public places?
Here’s the answer provided by an assistant to deputy premier Christine Elliott: “Generally speaking, municipalities would be able to pass bylaws respecting the smoking and vaping of cannabis that are more restrictive than the rules proposed under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017. This includes existing bylaws and bylaws passed in the future.”
Things get more complicated in Ottawa. Several of our large parks and swaths of green space are owned by the National Capital Commission. That includes Major’s Hill and Confederation parks and the plaza outside the Canadian War Museum.
Land owned by the NCC, a federal Crown corporation, is not covered by city no-smoking bylaws.
NCC regulations don’t ban smoking on NCC parkland. However, when groups rent NCC space — Jazzfest uses Confederation Park and Bluesfest uses the War Museum plaza, for instance — land-use agreements stipulate that organizers must discourage smoking and post no-smoking signs.
From a public policy perspective, it’s a bad idea to have a patchwork of cannabis consumption rules from different levels of government, said Coun. Mark Taylor, who sits on the Ottawa Board of Health.
He hopes the NCC will adopt policies that are compatible with the city’s no-smoking rules.
“It’s much easier for the public to understand.”
The NCC is developing a cannabis policy that will include landuse issues, chief executive Mark Kristmanson told reporters last month after a board meeting. “We are waiting for all the legislative developments to take their course ...
“We want to try to be as consistent as possible with some of the municipalities and how they will be handling it.”
As it stands now, for instance, after legalization it will be illegal to smoke weed at the Festival Plaza at city hall on Laurier Avenue West, because that space is subject to Ottawa’s no-smoking bylaw. However, across the street at the NCC’s Confederation Park, there would be no restrictions on smoking pot unless a festival was on.
As for the city banning smoking on sidewalks, that would be difficult, in Taylor’s estimation. He supports the idea, but says it won’t fly politically.
“I think the less smoking we have the better ... I don’t, however, think it would get much traction from committee and council. Ultimately, people are going to push back and say, ‘I want to be able to smoke somewhere outside of my home.’ ” Taylor adds it would be a bad idea to pass a bylaw targeting only sidewalk cannabis smoking while allowing other types of smoking.
He can predict the arguments that would erupt: “‘Oh, I’m not smoking it, I’m vaping it. Oh, it’s not tobacco, it’s something else,’ which our enforcement officers would have to take away and test, which is exceptionally costly and takes time.”
It might not even be legal for the city to ban smoking on sidewalks, said Taylor, because they are rights-of-way under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.
“The sidewalks are a bit of a stretch. We can’t restrict things there. We would be legislating to a senior level of government.”
A spokesperson for the city was unable to immediately clarify the legalities.
The Progressive Conservative government’s amended cannabis act is now before the legislature. Public committee hearings are Thursday and Friday. It would be possible for the government to pass the law by Oct. 16, the day before the federal government legalizes recreational marijuana across the country.
However, if the law is not passed by then, the rules adopted by the previous Liberal government that ban public consumption of cannabis take effect.
The sidewalks are a bit of a stretch. We can’t restrict things there. We would be legislating to a senior level of government.