The public input period wraps up today for Cochranites wanting to provide feedback on the proposed changes to the smoking bylaw through cochrane.ca.
Coun. Jeff Toews proposed to update the town’s smoking bylaw to fall in line with that of Calgary WinSport – no smoking on town-owned recreational areas, including parking lots.
For Cochrane, this would apply to the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, the Cochrane Arena, ball diamonds and soccer fields. The bylaw also applies to electronic cigarettes.
“The majority of people think it’s a little heavy-handed for municipal governments telling them whether or not they can smoke,” said Coun. Morgan Nagel, who has reached out for public comment through social media and has received an outpouring of commentary from smokers, non-smokers and former smokers that government needs to butt out.
Toews said he has heard the opposite.
“Even smokers I have talked with feel they wouldn’t want their children to be exposed to second-hand smoke.”
The matter will go before council again sometime this spring.
