Capital Hotel owner Maurice Byblow did all he could to prevent the city's smoking bylaw from being broken in his hotel bar, territorial court Judge Karen Ruddy has ruled.

In court Friday afternoon, Ruddy handed down the ruling which cleared the hotel of all five charges it faced of permitting people to smoke in the bar.

The decision was delivered three weeks after a short trial over the five charges. Byblow argued he took the necessary steps to make sure his staff and patrons knew about and followed the smoking bylaw, which prevents smoking in public places.

Byblow provided training for staff in meetings where they were instructed to practise asking customers to put out their smokes.

He also provided the bylaw to staff and customers through signs posted in the bar, spoke to patrons himself, did more walkthroughs of the bar and kept an eye on the cameras installed in the bar.

There was differing testimony between Byblow and bylaw staff about whether there were any calls made to the bylaw department.

However, Ruddy said she was satisfied Byblow honestly believed calls had been placed by his staff for the bylaw department to come and deal with smokers in the bar. Calls were also made to the RCMP, who told staff it wasn't in their jurisdiction to deal with.

Enforcing the bylaw was met with resistance from staff, some of whom were fired or suspended for not enforcing it.

'Clearly, a major shift in the culture of the corporation was required,' said Ruddy. She also pointed to Byblow's testimony that there have been no fewer than a half-dozen terminations in the bar in the last five months.

Staff are now informed that part of their job will be enforcing the bylaw by asking people to stop smoking and then refusing service if they don't comply. Byblow told the court his insurance won't allow patrons to be thrown out of the bar.

Lori Lavoie, the city's lawyer, argued Byblow should have gone further by not admitting known smokers who are known to light up inside and by having staff sign a form stating they understood the bylaw and would enforce it. Ruddy sided with Byblow's arguments on each.

As Ruddy noted in her decision, each of the five cases involves a different smoker, who may not have lit up previously.

It would also be unreasonable to expect Byblow to think of every precaution he could take to ensure the bylaw is followed, the judge ruled.

After listening to Lavoie's idea on the waiver staff could sign about the bylaw, Byblow agreed it was a good idea he hadn't thought of before.

Byblow took reasonable steps in managing the non-compliance of his staff through discipline, the judge said.

Ruddy concluded that although there were five counts against Byblow, they all happened over the two months that he was trying to deal with staff on it.

While she dismissed all five charges against the bar, she ended the decision by putting the hotel 'on notice' that the same consideration may not be given if the hotel is brought to court again because it has had time to make the changes it needs to.

Despite the city losing its case, bylaw manager John Taylor told reporters he was pleased with the outcome.

'I think it was a very fair decision,' he said. Ruddy covered all the points in detail and in the end, he noted, he was glad to see the bar put on notice that the bylaw must now be followed.

For the most part, he said, the bylaw is now being followed by the city's drinking establishments, including the Capital.

Taylor noted that Byblow must have 'cleaned house' because officers have continued to do walk-throughs there and found no violators of the regulation.

'We'll continue to monitor it,' he said.

Other hotel bars are scheduled to go to trial on charges of breaking the smoking bylaw next month.

'I'm very pleased,' Byblow said in an interview at lunchtime today.

He believes the decision could impact other bars charged with breaking the smoking bylaw. 'It's very precedent-setting.'

Not only does the acquittal save Byblow about $5,000 in tickets, it also shows he was doing all he could to prevent smoking in his bar, he said, though he stated he hadn't read the decision yet.

What the city did, said Byblow, was enact a bylaw that needed more time to work. Officers came into the bar through the back door or into the bathrooms where staff didn't know or have a chance to ask smokers to butt out.

'There's no way I should be responsible for that person lighting up,' said Byblow.

The judge seemed to appreciate he did what he could to stop people from lighting up in the bar, he added.