By Staff

April 1, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

Starting today, right now actually you have to butt out in any city park. Burlington passed a bylaw in November of 2013 , to ban smoking in city parks and recreation facilities. Exceptions to the bylaw include LaSalle Park Pavilion; Discovery Landing; Paletta Mansion; and Tyandaga Golf Course. Smoking at these locations will be allowed in designated areas.

Those locations generate revenue for the city.

It will be interesting to see how this works during RibFest.

The Sound of Music will be different – at that event a different kind of smoking takes place and it looks as if the weed will become fully legal at some point.

The city says its parks will become smoke-free, joining a province-wide movement to create healthier outdoor spaces. . “Like our neighbouring municipalities, we wish to provide a place where people can enjoy their recreation time without the health hazards associated with smoking.”; except for those exceptions – hypocrisy rules!

Hamilton and Oakville put in place smoke-free parks and recreation bylaws in the summer of 2012. According to the Play, Live, Be Tobacco-Free website, 121 Ontario municipalities have adopted an outdoor smoke-free bylaw or policy.

Enforcement in Burlington will be self-regulated and self-enforcing, as it is in many municipalities.

We’d like to hear how that works out; I don’t think I’m going to tell some bruiser of a biker to but out at RibFest and apparently there isn’t going to be a bylaw enforcement officer roaming around to do any enforcement.