"Butts, butts, butts," she said. "Everywhere are butts."
Coun. Betty McIntosh, who worked as a nurse at Royal Columbian Hospital for many years, believes the city can take a stand and try to strengthen the city's smoking bylaw, but she questions why Fraser Health doesn't seem to be enforcing smoking regulations outside Royal Columbian Hospital - its own facility. She said she took part in a recent community cleanup in Sapperton, where cigarette butts were one of the biggest sources of garbage.
City council was considering a request from the Fraser Health Authority to strengthen the city's bylaw. The amendments would prohibit smoking within 7.5 metres of doors, windows and air intakes for public and workplace buildings, on restaurant and pub patios and in outdoor places where people gather such as parks, trails, beaches, playgrounds, playing fields and outdoor sports venues.
However, Coun. Chuck Puchmayr won't support amending the city's smoking bylaw because he believes it's something that should be provincewide, as different communities will implement regulations in different ways.
"I think it takes leadership from senior levels of government," he said.
Puchmayr suggested that people have become less tolerant of smoke as smoking has been eliminated in many environments and as the numbers of smokers has decreased. "People are more sensitive when they are not used to it," he said.
Puchmayr also expressed concern that banning smoking in parks, where they have open spaces and may not be around people, could see more people smoking on sidewalks where they are around people.
A staff report to council stated that compliance with the proposed regulations would primarily rely on public education and voluntary compliance, but the health authority has agreed to take a lead role in enforcing the proposed amendments on the city's behalf, which could include writing warnings and issuing violation tickets where individuals refuse to comply.
Dr. Nadine Loewen, medical health officer for the Fraser Health Authority, encouraged council to adopt changes that would strengthen the city's smoking control bylaw. Although there have been "dramatically reduced rates" of smoking over the decades, she said more work needs to be done.
"It's still with us," she said. "One in seven still smoke and one in seven are still exposed to it."
Although the rates of smoking are lower than in the past, Loewen said smoking is still a major cause of preventable death and disease. She said 100 British Columbians die every year from exposure to second-hand smoke.
"There is no safe level of second-hand smoke," she said.
According to Loewen, people need to get 20 feet away from cigarette smoke before it gets to a "background level" that isn't harmful to human health.
In addition to protecting people from second-hand smoke and improving health, Loewen said strengthening the smoking control bylaw would help smokers quit, help prevent children from starting smoking, increase positive role models, reduce fire hazards and litter and make for a healthier community.
Coun. Lorrie Williams said she was a smoker, but as new regulations came into effect they "hammered down" her desire to smoke. Ultimately, she said she quit because of social reasons, isolation and cost.
"I certainly would support stronger smoking regulations in New Westminster," she said.
Ken Shaw, manager of environmental health for Fraser Health, said Fraser Health's role is to protect public health and protect individuals from exposure.
"Yes, we would like the province to do that," he said of province-wide regulations. "They haven't. In the absence of that, this is a really positive step forward the city can take."
Coun. Jonathan Cote said he'd like to see the province take a uniform role province-wide, but even though that hasn't taken place, he believes the city can take a leadership role and strengthen its own bylaw.
Coun. Bill Harper questioned how Fraser Health is going to be able to enforce the smoking bylaws when it can't do that job at the front door of Royal Columbian Hospital.
Shaw said it's an "interesting situation" at Royal Columbian Hospital, as different regulations exist on the property. While "it's not an easy thing to deal with", he said it's on the hospital's "front burner."
Harper said there are patients at Royal Columbian Hospital who are addicted to cigarettes. He doesn't believe banning smoking in places like parks is the catalyst that stops people from smoking.
"I was a smoker," he said. "People become aware of their own health and the need to stop."
Harper said it's "pure baloney" that people will stop because of pressure to smoke in certain areas, as they'll only quit smoking when they're ready to do so. He doesn't think it's a wise policy to ban smoking in areas like parks.
"You are going to force them out onto the sidewalk to where people are walking by," he said. "That doesn't make sense to me."
Loewen said data shows the number of smokers and the number of children who start smoking has decreased since smoking bans were implemented. She said the issue of smoking is related to public policy aimed at creating a healthy environment.
Harper doesn't believe the proposed amendments to the smoking control bylaw will stop people from smoking in places like Queen's Park. He said people will know that Fraser Health won't be there to enforce the bylaw so they'll continue to smoke even if a ban is in place.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy noted New Westminster has deemed that it needs to be involved in dealing with the issue of homelessness, while Burnaby has argued it won't get involved because it's a provincial responsibility.
He doesn't believe a "strategy of disengagement" is effective and feels municipal action would help push the issue on the provincial agenda.
Council considered a staff report at the Feb. 25 committee of the whole meeting, but tabled the report until the March 4 meeting because they didn't have adequate time to discuss the topic. Some councillors supported dealing with the matter at that evening's council meeting, after engaging in a discussion with Fraser Health officials, but the motion to lift the tabled motion didn't get unanimous approval from council, so it remained tabled.
