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I don’t know who monitors this but they sure aren’t doing their job. At the bus terminals/stops there are signs stating no smoking or else you can be fined. I counted 7 smokers at the bus terminal area near the MaDonald bridge the other day. One of them was even a bus driver!!!
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2008.
37 Comments
I see this all of the time as well and it boils my blood. It seems like the rules were only enforced for about a week after they came into effect, and after that it’s right back to the same old. And bus drivers of all people!? Shouldn’t they be leading an example for everyone else? I’d love to see one of them get slapped with a fine. (Along with a roadhouse kick.) Why did they even bother putting up the signs? Seems like a huge waste of time and money.
“Seems like a huge waste of time and money.” Wait…isn’t that what Government is for..?!?!?!? Obviously a bad joke, and I agree whole-heartedly, they should get slapped with double the fine.
Legislating forms of discrimination is exactly what this country doesn’t need but people like you just barrel ahead anyway as if restricting the freedom of Canadians has no affect on you or generations to come. Now you think regular Joe people aught to be setting a “good” example and even enforcing such discrimination or, according to the wisdom of “poop” (no irony here), lose or impose on the source of their livelihood… aren’t you all so righteous?!?I think you should go cozy up to the tailpipe of that bus to keep warm and complain about how other people lead their lives in private. Make it a good long conversation with many deep breaths taken for your judgmental banter to go on and on and on.Next we’ll be legislating anti-obesity laws and firing then firing the overweight people who work in fast food joints… to set a good example. Get over yourselves and learn some tolerance!!! Stop encouraging a police state where every little thing is mentioned in some kind of law… if you want to live in that kind of country I’m sure the Red Army would be happy to have you. They might even like your kind in North Korea.And just for the record… I’m taking a big fat smoke down to the bus shelter next 11-Nov to blow smoke in your faces and remind you what our soldiers died for.Now smarten up!
Wait a minute. Soldiers died to protect YOUR right to give ME cancer? Ohhhh… now I see. Please, accept my apologies. Here, have seat beside me in the restaurant. Go ahead, light up. Don’t be shy. I’ll just sit here and inhale your poison politely. After all, soldiers DIED for this. You idiot. Nobody is suggesting bus drivers shouldn’t be allowed to smoke. What is being suggested is that an employee of a company – particularly a publicly owned one – should refrain from flouting that company’s rules on the company’s property. How can the public be expected to comply with Metro Transit’s policies if Metro Transit employees ignore them? So yes, maybe a double fine IS in order. One fine from the city for breaking the LAW, and another fine from the employer for publicly flouting company regulations. Let me state this yet another way. How people lead their lives in private is not at issue. What you do in PRIVATE does not affect me. What you do while you are standing beside me in a public place DOES affect me. I am so offended I can hardly sit still. Every family member of every Canadian soldier who has died in the line of duty should hunt you down and beat you senseless.
As for the bus driver breaking the rules… I don’t think that’s a cop’s job to enforce, is it?Soldiers died for your FREEDOM…. not degrees of freedom and most of them happily smoked while they were doing it. I agree with the smoke-free workplace, hence, no smoking allowed on the bus or in the restaurant but get over yourselves… like I said, go cozy up to that tail pipe while you’re in outdoor public spaces and argue about it some more… never mind that by doing so you’re becoming a Nazi imposing your ideologies on “free” peoples of a “free” country… and you think I’m the idiot??
Yes, you are the idiot. Smoking kills people. Second hand smoke in enclosed spaces (like bus shelters) kills people. You wouldn’t have the right to inject me with small amount of poison everyday so why should you do it by smoking next to me in public. What don’t you get about that? The government has the responsibility to protect people from reasonable harm and decades of scientific research shows that SMOKING CAUSES CANCER. Cancer kills people. Smoking next to people in public makes them smokers too. OMG, how do you not get this?Banning smoking in public is on par with helmet and seatbelt laws, or making cocaine and crack illegal. These laws save lives. They save taxpayer money that would go to support the health care costs from injuries caused without these laws. This is NOT police-state-Nazi-ism like you suggest.
“As for the bus driver breaking the rules… I don’t think that’s a cop’s job to enforce, is it?”Yes, it is the cop’s job to enforce it because it is the LAW, you retard. There are ALWAYS degrees of freedom. NOBODY has total freedom. Have you ever heard the expression, “Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins”?
What do you think you’re getting when you stand next to a diesel engine? Poisons and carcinogens in such small levels we deem them acceptable. You’re a victim of propaganda to be afraid of minute amounts of cigarette smoke while standing in a breeze.Comparing tobacco bi-law enforcement laws to those concerning crack, cocaine, helmet and seatbelt laws is too far a stretch to be useful here. Please try again keeping in mind if you are a turban wearing Seek the helmet law doesn’t apply to you in most provinces. for reasons that have fuck all to do with safety or health care dollars and everything to do with a person’s right to freedom. At the same time question if the public can legally discriminate against a person who chooses not to buckle-up (yes, it’s stupid but it’s freedom). As for your crack and cocaine reference, it’s criminal, plain and simple and has no impact on any arguments here.
Wouldn’t you rather see cops enforcing CRIMINAL law?
“Retard” Idiot”…What’s up with all the name calling? Get a better vocabulary if you want to be taken seriously. And, Miranda, show me your nose, I dare ya!
*sigh*I don’t know if there’s any point in continuing this. I really think smoking has some kind of deleterious effect on brain function, because so many smokers just don’t seem to be able to connect the dots. But I’m going to try one more time.The tiny amount of poison that I inhale from your cigarette is not going to kill me. However, if I am standing in that breeze among 20 or 30 smokers, the amount of poison is no longer minute. If I am standing in that breeze with dozens of smokers every day on my commute to work, the amount of poison I inhale is cumulative. When I choose to go to the bus terminal to wait for a bus, I am aware that there will be exhaust fumes. I choose to accept that risk to my health in exchange for the benefit of getting to work on time. When I choose to run for fitness, I am aware that there is a possibility of damage to my knees. I accept that risk in exchange for other health benefits. There is absolutely no benefit to me in inhaling second hand smoke, and I do not accept the risks associated with doing so. You have the freedom to smoke in any area where it does not infringe on someone else’s freedom NOT to smoke.
Crack is criminal because it hurts people. Smoking hurts people. There is a sliding scale of how much something has to hurt people before the government steps in and says “don’t do that” and cigarettes are smack dab in that grey area. They are not harmful enough for a law saying “don’t smoke” but dangerous enough for a law saying “don’t smoke in public”. I know a little second hand smoke now and then is not going to kill me, i am not really worried about that. But the LAW was put into place to protect the health of people and for very good reasons that do not include inpinging on YOUR freedoms. Same goes for inhaling exhaust. Yes, it’s toxic too, that is why there is so much fuss about getting of fossil fuels and moving to cleaner energy. It’s a lot easier to make a law saying no smoking in public than it is to ban internal combustion engines. Some things take more time.
You are right about the name calling, Kay. That’s not usually my style. I was extremely offended that you invoked “dead soldiers” in your defence of smoking. I’m still extremely offended by that. But I’m less angry now. Well, not less angry, exactly. Just more in control of it.
Kay, your response to Miranda was decidedly off topic.
Hey Miranda, check this out:”The tiny amount of poison that I inhale from your TAIL PIPE is not going to kill me. However, if I am standing in that breeze among 20 or 30 BUSES, the amount of poison is no longer minute. If I am standing in that breeze with dozens of BUSES every day on my commute to work, the amount of poison I inhale is cumulative.”
Did you miss the part where I said I make the choice to accept that risk? Did you miss the part where I said the benefit to me makes the risk acceptable? I have the FREEDOM to decide which risks I will expose myself to. YOU do not have the freedom to decide which risks you will expose me to.
I argue for freedom. Canadians are generally educated and pubic messaging is everywhere you look, even on cigarette packs, even on exhaust manifolds. Haligonian’s can’t actually see or smell the smog but, I assure you, it’s there… as sure as you are that cigarette smoke smell is horrid!I’m stressing tolerance for human behaviors and not having to have a law for everything. Can’t we just be reasonable? I don’t like it when people stand next to me happily farting, polluting my environment with their customized methane gases but we as Canadians haven’t legislated anything about that, have we? By doing so we give up our freedom a little bit at a time. Where does it stop… when do we realize our justifiable and quantifiable points of view add up to a Nazi way of life (don’t think for yourself, the state does the thinking and the talking for you).
We wouldn’t need a law if people like you didn’t think they have a right to pollute the air I breathe because there’s already pollution in it anyway, so what the hell. The law is in place to protect ME from YOU. YOU, and others like you, have the power to make that law unneccessary. But it will never happen, because people like you will always hold your freedom more sacred than mine.
not being able to smoke at bus stop, a very public place, because its the law is not leading us towards a Nazi state.The real point is that a law WAS passed so enforce it.Calling out people as NAzi’s cause they want laws that are in place enforced is you lashing out because you feel alienated as a smoker. Cant smoke inside, fuck….cant smoke next to people or within 10 feet of a building out side…fuck, cant smoke next to people at the bus stop…fuckwhere am I supposed to smoke?…lets try In my own fucking house where I can be the only one who surfers the terrible smell and direct health risksand fuck off with the toxic fumes from the bus, I know its bad but is public transit not better than driving ur self to work everyday…if you are so concerned about the environment.
Assume I’m not a smoker but can see past all the nit-picking bi-law bullshit (and cost to enforce it) to notice what’s happening to our freedom in the big picture.
K so do you have a problem with the law being passed or enforced? Or do you feel that you should be able to pick and choose?
Canadian democracy didn’t ask me about the need for such a bi-law nor my willingness to pay for its enforcement. This bi-law is up there with the no-squeegee bi-law they’ve just passed. Another stupid law to pay to enforce when there are already laws not being enforced that would prevent the undesirable behavior (jaywalking). In this case enforcing anti-littering bi-laws would go a long way to deter smokers from lighting up where they’re not accommodated with a receptacle. The point is, the bi-laws are sanctioning discrimination. I’m calling for more tolerance on the part of citizens. How many kinds of bi-laws do we have to create before someone steps back and realizes we’ve formed a dictatorship? I’ve stepped back. That’s what my comments are about.
So pick and chose it sounds like. If I got a ticket for J walking i would be pretty pissed, but all I could do is be pissed and pay my fine.I agree that you cant just make things illegal because they are bothersome to some people. But if elected officials vote a law in then its a law(that democracy thing you were talking about)From where you have stepped back to can you tell me some of the ways that your freedoms as a Canadian are being violated?Also “I’m calling for more tolerance on the part of citizens.”Why is it than non smokers need to tolerate smokers? But not the other way around. Even with laws in place, you can think they are stupid or discriminatory but they are still there, smokers(who smoke in areas they are not allowed) show no tolerance for people who do not want to be exposed to this.”Canadian democracy didn’t ask me about the need for such a bi-law nor my willingness to pay for its enforcement.”Thats too funny…I’m sure they just forgot to call you, it was probably nothing personal. Or maybe they knew you would talk them out of passing the by-law so they just left you out of it all together
LMFAO, T. Love the last paragraph.
It’s not that bylaw is bad advice. Unnecessary bylaw infringes on the normal progression of “Canadian culture” which, by shared standards, eludes to freedom of choice. Keep this up and all the choices Canadians will ever have to make are the choices between breaking the law or not breaking the law… a dictatorship.
Holy shit are you off base buddy. Bylaws passed by elected officials does not equal a dictatorship.”Keep this up and all the choices Canadians will ever have to make are the choices between breaking the law or not breaking the law… a dictatorship.”As long as there are laws you will be making this choice every day.This is a dictatorship:”a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator.”That doesn’t sound like Canada to me. Do you worry every day about what Mr Harper might have done to you?Can you answer my question as well “From where you have stepped back to can you tell me some of the ways that your freedoms as a Canadian are being violated?”
K and Rainman are “College Know it all Hippies” – easily the single most unattractive thing about Halifax. Including the harbour.
I’d like to be free to teach my children how to be safe, respectful and tolerant of others, etc… legislate every little thing and the government does all that for me, hence, the dictatorship references. All of this in the name of, I admit, some pretty good recommendations (helmets on bikes, don’t smoke in other people’s space, don’t fart on elevators… whoops). To take that extra step and formalize the expected behavior by way of bylaw is very… big brother, don’t you think? Again, how many unnecessary bylaws do we need before all things are governed by the state and suit your definition of ‘dictatorship’? If you read through this post I’m all for law and order but not irresponsible and unnecessary bylaw creation. Again, enforce the jaywalking bylaw to deal with the squeegee people, enforce the littering bylaw to deal with smokers, etc
wow…I don’t even know where to start! Miranda, Miles and T basically said all I would have to say on this topic. However: Kay, I also think it’s halerious where you try and make farting next to someone comparable to smoking next to someone…EVERYONE FARTS! GET OVER YOURSELF. NOT EVERYONE SMOKES! They inforce laws like this, wearing a helmet, jay walking and wearing a seat belt to protect people from fucking incosiderate, selfish morons like YOU!I don’t see how everyday when I go to school that I should have to walk through a toxic cloud of fowl smelling, cancer causing cigarette smoke just to get to and from my classes when it CLEARLY says no smoking on at least five different signs outside the entrances.
Whoa, Jane! Easy! I think the farting thing was a joke!And I really don’t see how jaywalking and helmet by-laws are in place to protect us from Kay…
Lets just say I hope you don’t if you haven’t already procreated. But if you have/do maybe you can teach your kids to constantly contradict them selves and still feel they have a point.Still waiting for how any of this effects you negatively.
“Alert! Your submission has been received. Your submission will be reviewed by our staff before appearing on the Web site.”Thank you for your censorship, Coast. You just lost a reader.
*Sigh*I’ll admit I’m Human I fuck up. But I still consider myself a fairly considerate smoker. For about 8+ hours a day while I work from home I can have a cigarette without bothering anyone else. Is it really too much to ask to smoke outside once in a while? I turn my head away from people if they suddenly come near me when I take a puff. If I see them coming I don’t even take the puff. I have a metal fairly airtight container to keep the butts in when I’m done so I’m not littering all the time. Yet I get ragged on.Yes you have the right to not be near my smoke. I also have the right to smoke when your not around me.You can put distance between us just as well as I can.SO WHY DO YOU ACT LIKE A HOMING MISSILE AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR ME WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS AROUND?
I’m writing this for a third and final time. Hopefully the powers that be at Coast allow the post to show…Jane, exercise the enforcement of existing law (loitering, littering) and school policy governing student conduct to deal with the smoke clouds near doorways before you buy into this ‘create a new bylaw for every little thing’ bandwagon. Also, Jane, the comparison started out between cigarette smoke and tail pipe emissions… this isn’t really the place to discuss how methane gas (in close spaces) affects human health.How do smokers tolerate non-smokers, T? Smoke-free workplace, that’s how. And that’s just one example.If having law dictate all social behaviors does not add up to a negative thing by stunting the progression of a culture I don’t know what else to tell you, T. Maybe you’re one of those people more comfortable being told when, how and where to do anything and everything… prefer to let the state do all the thinking (and talking).Put that in your pipe and smoke it (with the bus drivers haha)
Your right qwerty…I made a mistake. I should have said that these laws are made to protect the stupid people in society that have no commen sense and can’t think for themselves.
Kudos to you John re:”I have a metal fairly airtight container to keep the butts in when I’m done so I’m not littering all the time”I just finished making a similar suggestion to new poster “One Proud Smoker”. At least you are making an effort to show some consideration, which is one helluva lot more than many of your compatriots…
When did I say that I want the gov to dictate everything I do in day to day life. All I said was that if there is a bylaw passed in the good interest of everyone why not support/enforce it. The bitch was about metro transit employees/ passengers not abiding by the new bylaw.”How do smokers tolerate non-smokers, T? Smoke-free workplace, that’s how. And that’s just one example.”Never said they did, I was wondering why they should if smokers cant control themselves enough to smoker where its not against the law. And great point by the way, should I take this to mean your all for workplace smoking? How about smoking in restaurants? Fuck I hate the gov telling me what to do and when to do it!Im all for smokers like John, its obvious that he shows respect for people who do not smoke and I have no problem reciprocating.”If having law dictate all social behaviors does not add up to a negative thing by stunting the progression of a culture”So not being able to smoke at the bus stop stunts the progression of our culture? ummm in that specific case it could be promoting consideration for people around you.But how about an example of one of these bylaws negatively effecting you, or censoring you.Keep raging against that machine!!!