Patio smoking ban could kill summer events, organizers fear
The local health unit’s interpretation of the provincial ban on smoking in restaurant and bar patios could kill summer festivals, say organizers of the Fork and Cork Festival.
“If they were to run a hard line on this and just literally be arresting or fining people or even fining the festival it would indeed be the last year it was ever done,” Kristian Neill, co- owner of the Dominion House and the Fork and Cork Festival, said Monday.
Beginning Jan. 1 provincial legislation made it illegal to smoke on all restaurant and bar patios.
The fear for festivals is the entire festival area such as the riverfront festival plaza may be considered a patio which would mean no smoking anywhere.
Neill said if the province wants people to stop smoking it should stop selling cigarettes. Forcing festivals to try to police where people are smoking or banning smoking in the riverfront plaza is unfair, confusing and costly, he said. It will be difficult to police if people are coming and go- ing from the festival to smoke, people may refuse to listen and enforcement should be up to the health unit, not the festival organizers, Neill said.
“It’s maddening, really,” he said. “There is no clear-cut solution for it except that if people want to smoke, they are going to smoke.”
Windsor Coun. Rino Bortolin said the local health unit is misinterpreting the provincial regulations and he too fears it could kill some festivals.
“I WISH THE HEALTH UNIT HAD TAKEN A MUCH MORE MODERATE, LOW APPROACH TO THE LEGISLATION.”
RINO BORTOLIN
He intends to meet with organizers of the Blues Fest soon and said the new rules could affect a wide range of fairs and festivals that offer food and drinks. He sees it cutting revenue for some festivals by 40 to 50 per cent.
“I think it will have a big effect,” Bortolin said.
“I wish the health unit had taken a much more moderate, low approach to the legislation. I think they are misinterpreting it and they’re making a mistake by how they are deeming festival plaza and I’m hoping that they will eventually reconsider.”
Bortolin plans to ask city council to ask the health unit to reconsider and just ban smoking from the specific patio areas of a festival or phase in the ban over a few years.
Kristy McBeth, manager of chronic disease and injury prevention with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, said it is a provincial regulation so there won’t be wiggle room.
She said the regulations are clear in defining restaurant and bar patios and they include an area that is “part of or operated in conjunction with an area where food or drink is served, sold or offered for consumption” and the area is open to the public and worked in or frequented by employees.
McBeth said each fair and festival is different in how it is set up so she didn’t want to make a blanket statement. But if food and drinks are being served, the smoking ban will apply and there is definitely a possibility the entire area of festival plaza would be considered smoke-free, she said.
“The intent of the regulation is so that everyone, smokers, non-smokers, children can all enjoy outdoor spaces without having to be exposed to secondhand smoke,” McBeth said.
Ministry of Health and Long- Term Care media relations coordinator David Jensen said via email Monday that “an area dedicated to food vendors and bars located at the Windsor Festival Plaza grounds would likely be considered a patio where smoking is prohibited. Any picnic tables, folding tables and chairs set up by the proprietor or employer of the food vendor or bar for use by patrons to consume food or drink would likely also form part of the patio where smoking is prohibited.”
But he added “if there is general seating on the festival grounds (ie. for concerts), smoking would not be prohibited in the general seating area.”
McBeth said if you can eat or drink from your seat at the concert, it would be deemed a smoke-free patio. She said the health unit’s stance is consistent with the ministry.
Even if food and drinks were not being offered, she said some county municipalities have their own smokefree outdoor space bylaws that would apply on municipal property.
Some fairs or festivals could also run into issues by being held on a baseball diamond or within 20 metres of a sports field or playground which are now also smoke free.