An amendment to Calgary's smoking ban has made another step towards becoming law.
The amendment was carried in a city committee meeting on Wednesday with a vote of 7-2. Only Councillors Keating and Stevenson voted against the amendment.
A proposed ban on public smoking, put forward by Councillor Andre Chabot, has been gaining strength ever since it was introduced late last year.
The ban would prevent people from lighting up in outdoor areas like public pools, skating rinks, playgrounds, and sports fields.
There are challenges to enforcing such a ban, but Chabot hopes that people will comply because they know it’s wrong.
“We understand that this is hard to enforce, but it’ll set a good example for young people,” he says.
Chabot started smoking at the age of seven, and has habit has led to health problems. The councillor says he hopes a ban will help prevent kids from following in his footsteps.
“The challenge with smoking is, it's easier to start, and not easy to stop.”
Chabot says the proposal has received an overwhelmingly positive response and most members of council are supportive of the ban.
“They are probably overly supportive,” says Chabot. “In fact, the recommended change I think that I'm going to propose on softening it may actually fail because I think some members of council think that it should go even further.”
Chabot says he doesn't want to infringe on the general public, he's just hoping people will be compliant.
Violating the ban would incur a $100 fine.
The amendment to the bylaw will now proceed to council for a vote.
If it passes there, it could be in place as early as August 1.
