a cynic's guide to modern life
COMMENTARY #3 1.5.03
The Ban on Choice:
Restaurateurs are Catering to the Bottom Line on Smoking Law
Just to warn you now, this editorial is going to support the restaurant owners who have chosen to ban minors over smokers. And yes, I further admit that I am biased because when I go into a coffee shop, I like a cigarette with my java. But quite frankly, I’m surprised that more people have not supported this move by some of our city’s cafés, diners and restaurants. After all, what’s better in our society than having a choice? By having some of our public places going adults only, the only people who are going to be subjected to second-hand smoke are those who choose to be. The non-smokers can frequent their joints, and we can frequent ours.
The finger of blame over this can be squarely pointed at city council. The restaurant owners, most of whom are small businesspeople that can’t afford a drain of their customers then has to decide which move will yield them the greater profit margin: minors or smokers? Some people who are fuming over the loophole, but it is customer preference that decides what a restaurant will do.
It’s indeed unfortunate that some minors are being turned away from places that they once frequented. It’s even more unfortunate that some minors have been fired from their jobs at the expense of this by-law. But I don’t see the human rights violation in this, either. We don’t allow minors to patronize or work in bars, because the possibility of them consuming alcohol might be dangerous. In my opinion, a restaurant banning minors does so for the same reasons. We disallow and bar minors from lots of things to protect them. The blame does not lie with the businesses. It lies with a law that should not have been put into effect in the first place.
Cigarettes are dangerous, but legal products. I can go into many shops in Winnipeg and legally purchase them. I cannot smoke in public buildings, busses, movie theatres and many other places, which I fully support and comply with. But private businesses should have a choice to allow smoking or not, based on the wishes of their customers. I don’t feel I need to justify this position because a non-smoker has a choice of whether or not to patronize an establishment that allows smoking. And now with this new by-law, no minors are hurt by second-hand smoke, adult non-smokers can eat at non-smoking establishments, and smokers can enjoy their cigarettes at establishments that allow it. I feel as long as the government continues to keep tobacco legal, any ban in a private establishment is unjust and hypocritical. Restaurants should be allowed to choose between minors and smokers. Unfortunately, it’s the people under eighteen who got caught in the middle of this mess.
The fact that smoking is a dangerous and stupid habit is not the issue here. It’s about rights and freedoms. As long as tobacco is legal, in my eyes the government has no business imposing bans like this on private establishments. If second-hand smoke is an issue with minors, then it is the responsibility of parents to keep children away from second-hand smoke and the establishments that allow it. But in our day and age, choice is great – as long as your choice is endorsed by the status quo. And for me, that’s no choice at all.
Copyright © 2002 Don Porter. All rights reserved.