Restaurant patios, playgrounds, part of Regina smoking bylaw review

The City of Regina is reviewing smoking rules for outdoor spaces — such as restaurant patios.

Officials have launched an online survey and are planning several public consultations over the next few weeks.

The Smoking Bylaw governs where smoking is and isn't allowed in Regina.

It's banned in many indoor spaces. The consultation will ask about possible new rules for parks, pools, athletic fields and festivals.

The city is also asking for people's thoughts on vaping, e-cigarettes and hookahs.

Currently, for example, Regina allows smoking, on restaurant patios. But that practice that has been banned in Saskatoon since 2004.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said he doesn't want to presume what will come out of the consultations, although he has some ideas of his own about the issue.

"There are members of council, myself included, who would like to see some restrictions," he said. "To say where that's going to be and the fine tuning of it is very much a public engagement process to say they are comfortable with that."

Several provinces have widespread bans

Many provinces have banned smoking on restaurant patios, including Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Saskatchewan has left the decision up to individual municipalities.

"We meet the provincial standard and in many ways you could argue that the province should deal with the health issue such as smoking in public places is a health issue. They don't want to do that they want municipalities to deal with them by themselves so we're going to do that," Fougere said.

Saskatoon banned smoking on restaurant patios in 2004. In 2016, Saskatoon expanded its smoking bylaw to ban lighting up in outdoor public spaces owned by the city. Including parks and trails, playgrounds, sports fields, spray pads, outdoor and paddling pools, skateboard sites, golf courses, tennis courts, dog parks, public squares and areas around civic buildings.

Public support

The Canadian Cancer Society conducted a survey of Regina residents in 2015. It found that 89 per cent of people supported a smoking ban in playgrounds and 70 per cent supported a ban on restaurant patios.

"People are already behind this. There are businesses that are moving forward with this and have implemented it," said Donna Ziegler with the Canadian Cancer Society.

The city said it is aiming for its review to be completed by the summer but implementation could take longer. Ziegler hopes that those changes happen in the next couple of months.

"Lots of people like to use the parks and playgrounds and they don't like to be exposed to second-hand smoke which is a carcinogen. It would be really good if they could be protected this summer," Ziegler said.

An open house is being held at City Hall on March 8 for local businesses and event organizers.

There's another session for the public March 9 at the Cathedral Community Centre, at 2900 13th Ave.

You can also weigh-in online on the city and fire department websites.