Pub owners and their employees were out in force at a public information meeting Jan. 28 to protest a smoking ban bylaw proposed for Surrey, B.C. Owner after owner got up to protest what they believe will be economically disastrous for their businesses.

The bylaw would ban smoking in a variety of settings, including malls, taxi cabs, and restaurants beginning Dec. 31, 1998. Lounges and pubs would have to be 80% non-smoking. The ban would include the outdoor seating areas of restaurants and pubs. Casinos and private clubs would be exempt.

Although about 20-30 angry pub owners and employees were on hand for the meeting, only one restaurant owner spoke.

Leading off the charge was Neighbourhood Pub Association president Brenda Locke, who called the proposed bylaw "one of the most onerous" that has been proposed in the Greater Vancouver area. Locke said Washington State taverns and exempt local premises such as Legion halls and taverns will take the business of smokers away from Surrey pubs if the bylaw is passed.

Smokers spend $2.75 in pubs for every $1 spent by nonsmokers, she said.

A 1995 seminar on Environmental Tobacco Smoke recommended improved ventilation in public settings as a way to deal with second-hand smoke, Locke pointed out.

Among the pub owners who spoke at the meeting, several said that they had invested considerable money in up-to-date ventilation systems -- and that those systems were working.

The owner of Sawbuck's Neighbourhood Pub Nolan Fisher said he had invested $25,000 for a system that provides air replacement every four minutes.

"It's the best money I ever spent," he said. "The whole industry is moving that way. It's not air cleaning -- it's air exchange."

Fisher said he was concerned about the fate of his business if the ban went through, and told council it would lead to "a problem that you haven't dreamed about" -- that of illegal speakeasy premises catering to drinkers and smokers.

Scott Moir of the North Delta Inn said he has spent $126,000 for a ventilation system which exchange the air of the entire premises -- including the kitchen -- every 12 minutes.

Other speakers included pub employees anxious about their livelihood if the ban goes through.

"It seems to be a trend to put down smokers," said one.

The pub owners propose a plan whereby they would install ventilation and have their premises subjected to an independent air quality study.

Council is expected to make a decision on the bylaw soon.

(Source: FORCES Canada)

Residents of Northern B.C. are set to resist new initiatives to restrict smoking in their part of the province, according to a Vancouver Sun report this week.

The report focused on community response to the release of a provincial health survey of the area expected to be used as a tool to persuade municipal governments to adopt tighter smoking restrictions. According to the survey, 41 per cent of northern B.C. residents smoke (the provincial average is 26 per cent).

The Sun quoted several residents as saying that government would fail badly with new smoking restrictions. One man said the area's public health officer would "get railroaded out of town" for such an attempt.

Even the mayor of Dawson Creek said he was not prepared to support smoking bans.

(Source: Vancouver Sun, Jan.29/97)

A long-term U.S. study has determined a healthy diet is just as important as not smoking when it comes to preventing heart disease. The results have led the main author of the study to make dietary recommendations on the percentage of fat in the diet of children as young as two years of age. Other experts, however, questions the value of such recommendations.

(Source: San Antonio Express-News, reprinted in the Globe and Mail, January 29/97)