Black Diamond approves smoking, vaping bylaw

While cannabis consumption is now legal nationwide, residents in Black Diamond can only smoke at private residences. Black Diamond Town council passed its smoking and vaping bylaw at its Oct. 17 meeting that prohibits smoking and vaping of cannabis and tobacco in public places, workplaces and vehicles where minors are present. Council, which passed first reading on Oct. 3, made further changes that allows vaping non-tobacco and cannabis materials inside stores that sells electronic smoking devices for sample purposes, and allows the chief administrative officer (CAO) to permit designated public places for smoking of non-cannabis products. The bylaw will come back to council at its Nov. 7 meeting. Coun. Jackie Stickel suggested allowing permits for designated smoking areas due to her concerns that Alberta’s Tobacco and Smoking Reduction Act leaves few places for people to smoke and vape tobacco. “The way the bylaw reads right now is there’s no tobacco smoking anywhere,” she told council. “If you have to be five metres away from the front door and you can’t be five metres within a sidewalk or highway, with some of the businesses in town - because of the way our town is built - there needs to be some space to go and legally smoke. You have to have something giving people a designated area.” CAO Sharlene Brown said downtown isn’t the only place that would be impacted. “There’s other facilities, too, one of them being the arena,” she said. “Where do those people go because we’ve now outlawed parking lots because they’re public places.” Coun. Veronica Kloiber informed council that the bylaw’s first reading would also put restrictions on businesses selling vape products, no longer allowing customers to sample the products. She said the City of Calgary has an exception section in its vaping and smoking bylaw that allows customers of electronic smoking device stores to sample products, with the exception of tobacco and cannabis. Despite the two amendments, Kloiber said she can’t support the bylaw as written. “I understand we have to start somewhere but I don’t feel comfortable endorsing something people will either ignore or have to wait two weeks to know if they’re in compliance,” she said. Mayor Ruth Goodwin said having such a stringent bylaw gives the Town the flexibility to make changes in the future while recognizing there are people in the community who smoke, yet don’t do so near children or on sidewalks and pathways. Council requested that further amendments be made to the smoking and vaping bylaw with an amending bylaw at its upcoming Nov. 7 meeting. The smoking and vaping bylaw includes fines for smoking in public areas of $250 for the first offence and $500 for subsequent offences.