The city could be taking a second look at its smoking bylaw, which came into effect Jan. 1.

'I think we've heard some pretty good arguments with regard to bingos and to the restaurants, and now it will be up to council to make a determination whether we should revisit the bylaw,' Mayor Ernie Bourassa said after Monday evening's council meeting.

He suggested council could be taking a second look at the bylaw 'fairly quick.'

At last night's meeting, seven people including restaurant owners, bingo players and regular smokers spoke out against the bylaw, which banned smoking in all public places within the city except bars. Bars are scheduled to be smoke-free by Jan. 1, 2005.

At the Talisman Restaurant, business has plunged 48 per cent compared to last January, council heard.

Talisman owner Bobbie Kufeldt didn't think the smoking bylaw would have such a major impact on her.

'Though the bylaw may not be rescinded, perhaps there is room for compromise,' she told council. 'There would have to be a fair and equal playing field within the food service industry.'

Kufeldt represented the Yukon Restaurant Food Services Association a group of independent restaurants. She noted that as restaurants are forced to lay off staff or cut staff hours because of the slow business, bars serving food are hiring additional staff to deal with the high demand.

'I have a menu that sits at 104 items,' Kufeldt said. 'How do I maintain the integrity of my food if I can't get the client base?'

She suggested that until the bylaw is in effect for every business, council permit restaurants to choose whether they want to be a non-smoking establish. Those in the gallery applauded at that urging.

The hotel association was able to negotiate a one-year extension for bars to come on-line with the bylaw, stating they wanted to educate their customers on the upcoming law. Kufeldt said she hasn't seen one piece of literature in a bar about the subject.

'Any business we are losing, the bars and the lounges are gaining,' she said.

Her customers can go to the Edgewater, the Bonanza Inn, Capital or the Westmark, she pointed out.

'All I'm asking for is a level playing field,' she said.

Nearby on Main Street, David Boudreau, the owner of Cheechako's Restaurant, is experiencing many of the same problems.

He noted there are only three items which separate food operations: food, service and atmosphere.

On one end of the spectrum are fast food operations. Some cater to the coffee-break crowd and others focus on service and atmosphere with a fine-dining experience.

'One cannot lump all the restaurant operations together in a single classification as has been done in this bylaw,' he argued.

'In effect, the restaurants that are licensed to serve liquor find that they are competing with cocktail lounges that feature food service, and not at all with take-out and fast food operations.'

The smoking bylaw has driven many customers including smokers and non-smokers out of the restaurants and into the lounges, he said.

'This has had an extremely detrimental effect on the economic viability of many restaurant and dining room operations in that it has destroyed their profitability and has forced the owners to face closure and bankruptcy,' Boudreau said.

Some lounges are masquerading as restaurants which permit smoking, he argued, adding that some are even operating before their licensed hours.

Restaurants and taverns appear to be much the same, especially to tourists, he said.

'The situation must be addressed by council and very, very quickly before the transfer of business from restaurant to cocktail lounges forces closure and bankruptcy,' Boudreau said.

After the meeting, Bourassa said the issues surrounding restaurants have caught some council members 'a little off-guard.

'I don't think any of us anticipated they were going to turn the bars into restaurants,' he said. 'If that's the case, we may have to delay the bylaw.'

The bars could be faced with a new date when the bylaw would apply to them, Bourassa said.

'The potential is there to bring in some other restrictions on bars in terms of times (of service) or it may mean advancing the implementation date,' he said. 'Those are a couple of the options council is going to consider.'

Bourassa noted the city had expected the problems bingo players cited, and they haven't come as a surprise.

'We knew that the bingo issue was going to be a hot topic among the bingo players,' he said. 'I think we all recognized that when we brought the bylaw in, but the determination at the time, I think, was made that we wanted a level playing field amongst all bingos.'

The situation had bingo player Eleanor Irwin in tears as she spoke to council last night.

'Why the hell did you guys bother with us for when you guys don't even come to the bingo halls to play bingo with us?' she asked.

Though Bourassa said council doesn't answer questions during the delegation portion of the meeting, she and Gary Smith, who sat beside her through her presentation, continued to question council.

'Somebody has taken something away from us in what you guys did,' she said, sobbing. 'You guys took smoking away from us when we enjoy it because we're seniors and what else are we going to do?'

Smith 'directed' Irwin to ask if seniors would now have to go to the bars to enjoy their smokes.

Bourassa said once again, council wouldn't debate during the delegation section, but added he was willing to speak to them after.

'You're condemning us,' Irwin said.

Coun. Bev Buckway then questioned whether Irwin had seen her at a recent bingo at the Elks Lodge.

Coun. Yvonne Harris asked about the health concerns of volunteer callers at the bingos.

'For the volunteers that are there, smoke can be extremely hazardous and what do you think of the people working at the bingos the volunteers and the effect that might have on their health?' she asked.

'That's a piece of nonsense, you know,' one person in the gallery replied before Irwin read an article alleging second-hand smoke isn't dangerous.

In his presentation, Smith noted the city has stripped many elders of their right to entertainment and dignity because now they're forced to stand outside a bingo game at -30 C to smoke. He asked whether council members would make their own mothers do the same.

'I think each and every one of you who voted on this should be ashamed,' he said.

The bylaw was passed prior to the October 2003 election. Of the current council members, Bourassa and councillors Dave Stockdale, Dave Austin and Doug Graham voted for the bylaw.

Smith, who volunteers as a bingo caller and ran for council last October, asked whether the city is prepared to make up the funding many charities normally get from bingos.

'Is this council prepared to cough up $100,000 a year that particular charity (the Humane Society Yukon) takes in from us, the bingo players, in a one-year period?' he questioned.

He pointed to the Saturday morning bingo, where attendance has dropped from 200 bingo players to 75 since the bylaw came into effect.

It's unfair that Porter Creek Billiards has been granted a one-year extension on the bylaw, while bingos, which are mainly attended by those over 19, must be smoke-free, council was told.

The pool hall sought the extension late last year because its closest competition is the bars in town.

Nobody asked the bingo organizers if they'd be willing to limit the age of bingo players to 19 and over to allow for smoking, Smith argued.

He noted if the city wants to make the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre smoke-free ,that should be the city's choice. Others, however, should be permitted to make their own choice to allow smoking, he said.

Lucy Jackson compared the smoking bylaw to attending the Carcross residential school, now demolished.

'When I read (about the smoking bylaw) in the paper, I thought to myself, Holy man, what's coming back? Is Carcross residential school coming back, where we're going to have to line up for this, line up for that ...?'' the ex-smoker said.

The bylaw is terrible for the city, she said.

'I am disappointed as a taxpayer of the city,' Jackson said.

It was approximately 30 years ago that former mayor and doctor Don Branigan told Walter Ristik if he didn't quit smoking and drinking, he'd be dead in six months.

'It's 30 years later and Dr. Branigan died and I'm still kicking around,' he said.

The bylaw has divided Whitehorse into two categories: smokers and non-smokers, Ristik said.