CKNW Editorial
for March 30, 2000

The pub owners of British Columbia are damned fools. At least those who speak for them are.

They, like King Canute of old, are trying to stop the tide from coming in and they'll have about the same success he did. The world is turning away from smoking and for smokers it is only going to get worse. Hell, most outdoor baseball and football stadiums in the States now ban smoking.

The arguments raised are mostly of the men of straw variety - exhaust fumes are worse for you etc. Yesterday’s industry spokesman even tried to equate tobacco smoke with an after shave lotion. Well, the art of government is doing the possible and it's not possible to ban the automobile nor, for that matter, after shave lotion and it is possible to ban smoking from public places.

The argument that people are not forced to work in bars is a contemptible one and is the same one used by capitalists of old to prevent any safety measures being forced upon their mine or factory. When people need work they will risk their health if necessary and as a society we long ago agreed it shouldn't be necessary. Even workers who themselves smoke are at additional risk in smoke filled bars. In fact the statutory obligation to make the workplace is on employees as well as employers.

They put forth the argument that non smokers have the right to stay away. That ignores the very fundament of their business - a licence issued by the people for them to make money selling booze. The operative word is licence. And let's not forget that "pub" stands for "public house". When there are competing rights - the right to smoke and the right to clean air, surely the non-polluter's rights must win over that of the polluter. As for the notion that somehow the government should pay for air circulation systems so that publicans can make money I’ll see my money go to Brian Burke and the Canucks before that happens.

But the real issue is the inevitability of it all. Non smoking is the wave - the City of Vancouver is going to extend its bylaw to cover bars and cabarets and the Workers' Compensation Board, after going through all the hoops, will deal with other parts of the province.

What I find so puzzling is this. Instead of spending all their money on lawyers why don't the pubs spend that money getting the 75% who don't smoke but who for that reason don't have the habit of going to the local pub, to get that habit? Non smokers like a beer as much as smokers do. They don't go to pubs because they are unpleasant places to be. As soon as pubs cease to be unpleasant, and the old habits of spending their money elsewhere are broken, the pubs will be full again - perhaps even fuller. But old habits die hard and some good old free enterprise salesmanship is necessary.

It's not a losing cause, Mr and Ms pub owner - it's a lost cause. Smarten up and adjust and your business will do just fine. If you were entrepreneurs instead of whiners your pubs would be full as would be your pocketbooks.