Canadian bars flout anti-smoking laws

Canadian hotels, restaurants and bars have been widely flouting new anti-smoking laws introduced across the province of British Columbia at the turn of the millennium.

The ban takes the form of government regulations to control staff exposure to tobacco smoke in the workplace. According to Vance Campbell, president of bar, restaurant and nightclub group Granville Entertainment, it effectively means staff cannot work where customers smoke.

Citizens who witness customers lighting up in bars and restaurants are encouraged to telephone what the trade describes as a Big Brother-style "snitch line". Fines range from Cdn$500 to Cdn$5,000 (£211 to £2,110) if warnings are ignored.

Campbell said few businesses were complying with this ban. At Granville-owned Fred's Tavern in Vancouver, bar staff are wearing white suits and gas masks to mock the regulations and highlight the ventilation solution favoured by the trade.

Anthony Pollard, president of the Hotel Association of Canada, said the trade was tracking the economic consequences of the ban. It blames the ban for more than 400 job losses and two bar closures.

Pollard feared the smoking crackdown might also repel international convention organisers. "Conventions represent 20% of hotel business in Canada," said Pollard. "We can't afford to lose that type of business."

There are concerns that other provinces may decide to adopt British Columbia's stringent rules. Attempts to ban smoking in Toronto in 1997 also led to mass flouting and culminated with restaurateurs storming the city hall (Caterer, 9 April 1998, page 14).

by Angela Frewin