Editorial

Smoke or no smoke

Most smokers agree that smoking is not a good thing. They try not to force other people to breath the stuff if they don’t want to.
For those people, complying with a law that forbids smoking in public places accessible to children won’t be a problem. They already recognize that children should not have to breathe someone else’s smoke and they act accordingly.
Added to the majority (in Slave Lake it might be a small one) of people who don’t smoke, these enlightened smokers make a large majority of people who should not be bothered at all by a new, tougher smoking by-law. The one Slave Lake Town council is bound to consider implementing will call for a 100 per cent ban on smoking in public places that permit children under 18.
Keep in mind that council has a strong mandate to proceed with such a measure. Fully 75 per cent of voters indicated their support for the ban in the smoking question that was attached to the municipal election ballot back on Oct. 18. Such a figure must mean that many smokers joined non-smokers in voting in favour of the ban.
From that point of view council’s decision should be easy. But it isn’t, because a smoking ban will cause a clear inconvenience to some businesses.
It’s a plain, unarguable fact that smokers enjoy a place they can light up after a meal or with cup of coffee. They should not be denied the right to do it. But they are getting squeezed out, and will doubtless migrate to wherever they can still light up. The worry among those restaurateurs who still allow smoking is that if the Town cracks down, their smoking customers will decamp for the two restaurants outside Town boundaries, leaving them with less business than before.
Will that really happen? Anything is possible, but studies of affected businesses in other communities show that restaurants survived and in fact prospered after a smoking ban came down. In Slave Lake some restaurants are experimenting with it too. The A&W went smokeless last March and after an adjustment period gained the numbers back that they lost and more. In particular, says Manager Gordie Ferguson, the number of families visiting in the evening has gone up Ferguson says he doesn’t regret his decision at all.
For smoking ban proponents, it’s also an easy decision. For them, smoking is a health issue, and health trumps business considerations every time. It’s more complicated for businesses and for council too. There are options, but they cost money. Separate rooms with separate ventilation systems have been mentioned. Another, presumably, is to just choose between smoking and children. You can have one, but not the other.
The issue will be hotly debated over the next few months, in and out of council chambers and coffee shops. But a tougher by-law seems almost certain – only the details need to be worked out.

Hard times
It’s been a strange, troublesome and tragic couple of weeks in and around Slave Lake. We are moving into Christmas feeling vulnerable – wondering who may be next.
Three men died – two in accidents and one, very suddenly, from cancer. People were hurt badly in other accidents, but thankfully are still live. In another case, a man’s vehicle was found up the hills, but no sign of the owner.
The incidents serve to remind us that life is fragile. Nobody knows when their number is up. Today’s health and happiness don’t guarantee anything for tomorrow. For some people, tomorrow doesn’t come.
Christmas is not a bad time to think about these things. This Christmas let’s take time to appreciate what we’ve got and who we’ve got.