Just a little more than two months after the city's new smoking ban came into effect, council is taking a second look at the bylaw.

In a 6-1 vote Monday night, council voted to reconsider the smoking bylaw. Coun. Doug Graham was the only member to vote against it.

The smoking bylaw, amended by the previous council last August, saw an overall Jan. 1 smoking ban in all public places, with the exception of bars. Bars are scheduled to be smoke-free by next January.

Numerous restaurants have complained about losing business to the bars in town, where patrons can order food and smoke as well.

Coun. Mel Stehelin, who owns the '98 Hotel, was part of the vote last night in favour of reconsidering the bylaw.

During the election campaign last fall, Stehelin said as a councillor he would abstain from voting on the matter because he is a bar owner. He also noted then he didn't have a problem contributing to the discussion on smoking.

'Obviously, I got some legal opinions as to whether I may speak to this issue, which I am told I can,' he said, speaking to reporters after Monday's meeting.

Stehelin pointed out he's always advocated everyone should have a choice.

'I'm one hokey little bar in an issue that's much broader than one hokey little bar,' he said. 'And that's what my legal advice says.'

Stehelin doesn't believe the city has the legal jurisdiction to have a smoking ban. Such a ban should fall under the territorial government or the workers' compensation board, the councillor said.

'There's an awful lot of industry out there that is a dangerous place to work,' he argued. 'How about a hairdressing salon? The most toxic, noxious acids in the world in small, unventilated places are in hairdressing salons. Well, nobody's even thinking about that.'

The lone voice on council against bringing back the bylaw believes the issues between bars and restaurants can be resolved without taking a second look at the ban.

If there are problems, said Graham, the city should work within the bylaw to resolve them.

'What I would like to see us do is work with the restaurants that are having difficulties and improve their situation rather than now taking the chance of shutting down smoking in bars and having a bunch of hotels and a bunch of bars hurting in the city of Whitehorse at the same time,' he said after the meeting. 'We just don't need that.'

The city could make sure the public knows where restaurants are, and encourage people to go out to restaurants.

'Let's help those businesses out rather than trying to hurry something through that is just going to hurt a bunch more people,' he said.

It's hard to say how much of the decrease in business is due to the smoking bylaw, Graham added, noting that traditionally January to March are bad months for business and that the Whitehorse population is down.

'We as a city shouldn't be trying to bring in the bars at this time with the potential of having a major hotel fail in the city or something,' he said.

Before the vote was taken, Mayor Ernie Bourassa noted the motion was simply on whether to bring back the smoking bylaw, not what to do with it. That will come forward in the next few weeks, he said.

As Coun. Bev Buckway, who brought forward the motion, noted, council may find that in looking at the ban again it's best not to make any changes.

'The motion to reconsider is not, in any way, a motion (to rescind) the current bylaw,' she said. 'It's also not about pro-choice.'

It is about a bylaw that is causing considerable problems, she said. Since the bylaw came into effect on Jan. 1, council has heard the bylaw is unfair to restaurants.

While Coun. Yvonne Harris supported reconsidering the bylaw, she noted she's not in favour of rescinding the ban.

She wants to hear from restaurant and lounge owners on the matter, she said.

Earlier in the meeting, Harris questioned Porter's Place restaurant owner Morley Boe how his business would be impacted by changing the bylaw so that bars would be required to be smoke-free until 9 p.m.

'It's not going to make any difference,' Boe told council.

He noted that smokers will simply stay home rather than go out.

In his delegation to council, he said since the ban came into effect his restaurant is down to employing one full-time and one part-time waitress as well as one full-time and one part-time cook compared to three or four full-time kitchen staff and two or three full-time waiters prior to Jan. 1.

'Even with the small staff we have now, there's still many times (they) are sitting around doing nothing because of no customers,' he said.

Boe argued the unemployment rate in the city will rise due to the smoking bylaw with people being forced to depend on welfare or leave the territory for work.

'I don't think they should be forced to make that decision,' he said.

Boe noted there were a number of non-smoking restaurants in town prior to the ban. They banned smoking by freedom of choice, he said.

'Where is our freedom of choice?' he questioned.

When Harris pointed to the serious health issue from smoking, he noted that if she wanted to look at the health issue, she should also look at food, which is 'pumped full of everything.

'I think it should be our privilege if we wish to have a smoking restaurant, and then it's up to the public if they wish to come in,' he said.

Stephen Watterous, another delegate on the smoking issue, argued Boe's point on food, noting that whatever someone else chooses to eat isn't going to affect his health.

'(If) you blow smoke in my face, that will,' he said.

Watterous noted restaurants have to attract people to their eateries. He said he frequents establishments that are making the extra effort for customers.

He argued an unsuccessful experiment by the Roadhouse Saloon for a month last year was flawed on several fronts.

'Firstly, it lasted for only one month,' he said. 'And as I've mentioned in (a) B.C. study there was an initial loss of business in their first month, but it completely recovered by the end of the second month.'

Secondly, he said, it seemed the Roadhouse didn't want the trial to succeed. He noted that comments made to the media by Roadhouse manager Janice Lattin that non-smokers should put up or shut up probably didn't do a lot for marketing.

'Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, if only one bar goes no-smoking it's an example of an unlevel playing field,' he said.

Likely, many of the Roadhouse's customers who smoke ended up going across the street to the 202 Motor Inn or another bar where they could smoke, he said.

Lattin also appeared before council, arguing banning smoking should be the choice of the individual businesses.

There could be postings at the entrance of each establishment telling the public whether it is a smoking or non-smoking business, she said.

'If I, as a business person, see that non-smoking establishments start really improving, I'll have to say, Gee, yeah, I was wrong. What an idiot I was. I missed the boat, so now why don't I change my business and make it more inviting for the non-smokers to come here?'' she said.

Lattin insisted that's a business decision to be made though.

Karen Motley noted there seems to be some confusion about what role the municipal government has in private business.

She noted after doing research, she hasn't found another municipality in 'most of Canada' that has implemented a smoking ban on one industry without including another.

'It has been level across the board,' she said.

She didn't point out that Dawson bans smoking in restaurants, except on a patio, but not in bars.

'We are not in current sound economic times, nor do we have the population to supplement the loss of income coming from this ban,' Motley said. 'This may leave the City of Whitehorse open to a class action law suit from one or several of the businesses currently suffering or facing bankruptcy due to loss of income or potential income earned.'

A group of people is ignoring what should be a clear distinction between private and public distinction, she argued.

Bingo player Ellena Irwin was on-hand at council again, also urging the city to make smoking a choice for individual organizations.

'We're getting to feel like animals, not humans,' she said.

She also encouraged council members to come out and take in a bingo game.

Meanwhile, delegates David Pritchard and Ian Parker spoke in favour of the ban.

Both noted they enjoyed going out to dinner more with the smoking ban in place.