new year - new laws

[SpongeG]

do you know of any?

I just read that Cats In Calgary need to be licensed http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/01/02/cat-licence.html

and I saw on CNN in California a new law went into effect that if people leave an animal tied up for 3 or more hours they can go to jail for 6 months

read some of the american laws here: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/01/new_laws.html

how about new Canadian laws?

[Only The Lonely..]

I know that they are thinking of banning roadside advertising in Winnipeg come the new year.

[dubiousmike]

If I'm not mistaken, Calgary's newly minted public smoking ban came into effect yesterday.

About goddamned time.

[jbettcher]

I was at Dixons pub last night and it was so dead where as normally it would be packed on any given Monday night. The bar nearly emptied everytime people went to smoke.

[dubiousmike]

I have to admit, it would suck to be a bartender right now. Telling all your regulars that they have to go outside to smoke.

[Dalreg]

I was at Dixons pub last night and it was so dead where as normally it would be packed on any given Monday night. The bar nearly emptied everytime people went to smoke.

People will get used to it. Saskatchewan has had this for almost two years now and off the start bars took a hit in business, but people still have to drink so guess what they started going back.

[vid]

Reserves aren't smoke free. The main road to ours is starting to resemble the Las Vegas Strip! (That's a joke.)

What new laws do we have in Thunder Bay you ask?

:banana: TEN METRE HEIGHT LIMIT!!! :banana:

[dubiousmike]

Smoking isn't even especially pleasant when done in a 70 degree room which is already filled with second hand smoke. After awhile, people will relish going outside and will wonder why they ever thought smoking indoors was so great in the first place.

Going outside for a smoke is an excellent opportunity to have a sidebar with your friends while escaping the din of the bar. It's sort of like an anti-VIP lounge. You have people walking by, you have cars going by, you have other smokers from adjacent bars. It's just a far more integrated urban experience.

I've obviously put too much thought into this.

But seriously, it's just far, far better.

Honestly, one of my biggest gripes about Calgary is that people don't spend nearly enough time loitering on the sidewalk. This new law is going to help in the regard. It could possibly be a total paradigm shift.

Not to mention that now non-smokers don't have to come home smelling like grim death.

[SpongeG]

soemtimes the smoking patios in vancouver are the busiest parts of the bars

[mersar]

In Calgary they outlawed smoking on the patio's as well I believe. Only non-profit bingo halls, gaming halls and bars with separate ventilated smoking rooms are exempt until Jan. 1, 2008. After that, its no smoking everywhere. Some places, such as the Shisha(sp?) bars, are fighting it though as it more or less puts them out of business. But overall its been recieved not too badly. The best comment I've heard about it and the impact was from a Cochrane bartender (we also just had our smoking bylaw come into effect as well), who said that it shouldn't make much a difference in the long run, as there isn't anywhere else for everyone to go drinking and still be able to smoke (I believe that every town/city surrounding Calgary now has full no-smoking bylaws in place)

[JBinCalgary]

yeah, no smoking on patios, which at the time was insane, because you could only smoke inside... go figure

[SpongeG]

wow even vancouver isn't that harsh - most clubs have out door patios to smoke on or smoking rooms

[Dalreg]

Saskatoon has banned smoking in bars, including outdoor facilities and public spaces such as stadiums and arenas. Saskatchewan has similar provincial laws. The only place you can leagally smoke indoors is at home or the Native run casinos.

[Ginty]

no smoking in bars is great

- if you see some good lookin lady goin out for a smoke all of a sudden you smoke too

- all those girls who were too uptight to go before because they "smelt like smoke when they came home and that creepy guy kept smelling my hair". well now they only have one thing to worry about

[Only The Lonely..]

As a non-smoker I think the whole smoking ban is pretty silly.

In Winnipeg for example, if I were a smoker and wanted a cig with my coffee I could walk into a Robins Donuts and puff away. If I was a non -smoker I could go to a Tim Horton’s, which has always been smoke free, to enjoy my coffee.

As a consenting and knowledgeable adult we were better off when we had the choice. I don't need Big Brother (read: Health Gestapo) to tell me how to live my life.

I know in Winnipeg, a lot of businesses had separate sealed off smoking rooms to prevent non-smokers from coming into contact with second hand smoke.

Overall, I found this to be an acceptable compromise.

Furthermore, since Winnipeg invoked its own smoking ban many years ago, I have found non-smokers claims of persecution to be unfounded. All these people that loudly lobbied for smoke free premises never did show up when these businesses did go smoke free.

Instead many bars and restaurants went bankrupt.

[Taller Better]

If the entire city goes smoke free, then bars do not suffer in the long run. A barfly is not going to STOP going to bars just because he has to smoke outside. He is not going to stay home and drink his 24 of Blue in front of the tv just so he can puff away, any more than he did a few years ago. Everyone gets used to the idea remarkably quickly. The glassed in smoking rooms allowed for an extra year in Alberta are expensive and a temporary fix that was cleverly allowed to prevent smokers from rebelling too much. It doesn't kill people to step outside for a smoke.

[bluenoser]

This is new... in Ontario a child can have multiple moms and dads no problem... yikes.

I hope the sheesha/hookah bars in Calgary can get their exemption. They've taken out tobacco. As the owner says, it's more cultural than anything and patrons must know what they're getting into when they go to a 'sheesha bar'.

[Taller Better]

All tobacco is a "cultural" thing. Drinking and smoking at a strip club is a social thing. They won't make exceptions for 'sheesha bars'. So, whether it be hookah or hooker they won't allow smoking. Here they allow them outside on patios and you see some in the summer.

[Doug]

Calgary needs a bylaw against throwing smoking materials, mainly cigarette butts, on the streets, sidewalks, grass etc.

[mersar]

Calgary needs a bylaw against throwing smoking materials, mainly cigarette butts, on the streets, sidewalks, grass etc.

There already likely is one. It's probably covered under the anti-littering bylaws. However that particular bylaw is seldom enforced as its just not worth it from an man power viewpoint of trying to enforce.

[feepa]

If the entire city goes smoke free, then bars do not suffer in the long run. A barfly is not going to STOP going to bars just because he has to smoke outside. He is not going to stay home and drink his 24 of Blue in front of the tv just so he can puff away, any more than he did a few years ago. Everyone gets used to the idea remarkably quickly. The glassed in smoking rooms allowed for an extra year in Alberta are expensive and a temporary fix that was cleverly allowed to prevent smokers from rebelling too much. It doesn't kill people to step outside for a smoke.

Well, as much as Calgary would like to think its all of Alberta, its not. Edmonton has had smoking bylaws for years now. A complete smoking ban in all public has been fact for a few years now. Calgary is just behind the times on this one.

[Rusty van Reddick]

This is new... in Ontario a child can have multiple moms and dads no problem... yikes.


I'll get to the smoking ban in a second, but first- what in the hell is this supposed to mean? And why "yikes"?

Smoking- am in Honolulu until the 5th and all patios here are smoke-free (as are ALL indoor spaces)- doesn't seem to have hurt a thing, it was packed PACKED here over Xmas, insane.

[feepa]

I'll get to the smoking ban in a second, but first- what in the hell is this supposed to mean? And why "yikes"?

Smoking- am in Honolulu until the 5th and all patios here are smoke-free (as are ALL indoor spaces)- doesn't seem to have hurt a thing, it was packed PACKED here over Xmas, insane.
Patios in Edmonton are also smoke-free, and for the most part, in the few years its been smoke free, there hasn't really been a downturn in business. People still need to eat and drink (and play bingo)

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

I have to admit, it would suck to be a bartender right now. Telling all your regulars that they have to go outside to smoke.


I'm shocked it's taken this long for Calgary. Don't feel bad for the bar owners, if the bar is good it will continue to do well. No mass bar closures inToronto or Vancouver I can think of. The smokers will still show as most are social people and many smokers are casual social smokers. These people aren't about to start inviting people around to their places for an evening of smoking. All the smokers here, me being one of them until New Years actually prefer stepping outside. Our clothes don't stink when we go home, we smoke less and frankly I've almost forgotten what it's like to smoke inside.

If your bar dies don't blame the lack of ashtrays, blame the atmoshere. Calgary bar owners, time to invest in some good patio heaters.

BTW, here in Toronto, covered patios went smoke free last spring, and sometime this year all patios will be smokefree.

[dubiousmike]

^^^

Nah, I don't feel bad for the bar owners one bit.

Just the bartenders and wait staff. Who have to play Mr. Bad Guy for the next few days until people catch on.

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

Ya notced you said bartenders after I posted, sorry. All will be fine in cowtown in a few weeks.

[Boris2k7]

If your bar dies don't blame the lack of ashtrays, blame the atmoshere. Calgary bar owners, time to invest in some good patio heaters.

You may have missed it, but patios here are smoke free now as well...

[vid]

I'll get to the smoking ban in a second, but first- what in the hell is this supposed to mean? And why "yikes"?

If a man and women get married and have a child they are that childs parents. If the mother decides she's a lesbian, gets a divorce, and wants her girlfriend to be a parent as well but also wants to keep the father in the picture, then that is also acceptable. Two mothers and a father.

If the father re-marries, he can now have his new wife become another parent. If the father then divorces her, but lets her stay as a parent, his next wife could also become a parent. :) That is five parents now!

It's isn't really a 'yikes' thing, but it does give new meaning to 'taking a village to raise a child' no? Before you know it they'll have some sort of weird hybrid marriages so that the children and all their parents can get married to each other. :)

[Bigtime]

Perhaps to keep clientele around in Calgary these bar owners will have to start charging reasonable prices for their drinks! I'm heading to a pub tonight and it will be the first time since the bylaw kicked in, I have a cold and usually that plus the smoke would keep me at home but now the smoke free factor makes it that much easier to be sociable when a little under the weather.

It was about time we here in Calgary did this, we always talk like we want to be worldclass like the big boy cities yet we can be so backwards on issues like this that the world class places embraced and survived.

[bluenoser]

If a man and women get married and have a child they are that childs parents. If the mother decides she's a lesbian, gets a divorce, and wants her girlfriend to be a parent as well but also wants to keep the father in the picture, then that is also acceptable. Two mothers and a father.

If the father re-marries, he can now have his new wife become another parent. If the father then divorces her, but lets her stay as a parent, his next wife could also become a parent. :) That is five parents now!

It's isn't really a 'yikes' thing, but it does give new meaning to 'taking a village to raise a child' no? Before you know it they'll have some sort of weird hybrid marriages so that the children and all their parents can get married to each other. :)

Well I think a child has the right to be raised by one father and one mother - preferably his or her own parents if at all possible.

This practice verges on polygamy as it applies to the raising of the child, which I consider to be a 'yikes' thing. This is in the interest of the parents, each wanting to have their own rights and power and it's not good for anyone, least of all the child in question.

[dubiousmike]

It was about time we here in Calgary did this, we always talk like we want to be worldclass like the big boy cities yet we can be so backwards on issues like this that the world class places embraced and survived.

Couldn't agree more. Hopefully curbside recycling is next.

The homeless guys who cruise my alley picking up bottles and cans are providing vastly better service than the city.

[LordMandeep]

the city Of Toronto finally has powers to act like a city...

It mostly means a lot less interference from Queen's Park.

[Taller Better]

Well I think a child has the right to be raised by one father and one mother - preferably his or her own parents if at all possible.

This practice verges on polygamy as it applies to the raising of the child, which I consider to be a 'yikes' thing. This is in the interest of the parents, each wanting to have their own rights and power and it's not good for anyone, least of all the child in question.


Really? Perhaps you do not understand the intent of the new law, or are unaware that society and the concept of "family" has changed drastically since 1950. I'm guessing that you say "yikes" quite a bit. :yes:

[bluenoser]

Really? Perhaps you do not understand the intent of the new law, or are unaware that society and the concept of "family" has changed drastically since 1950. I'm guessing that you say "yikes" quite a bit.

I think not every change is necessarily for better. I think the reality of the family unit is being transformed in cases like this, into an more of an open-ended concept, in fact more of a rather equivocal term applied to anyone who feels they can change laws to gain whatever rights they want over a child, as they personally see fit.

Oh yeah: yikes.

[DizzyEdge]

I was at Dixons pub last night and it was so dead where as normally it would be packed on any given Monday night. The bar nearly emptied everytime people went to smoke.

I was at the Drum and Monkey this past Friday night and I've never seen it so packed, a few friends who went to some clubs said the same thing, that slow Monday at Dixons might have been due to it being the day after New Years.