© Tony Caldwell/Ottawa SunA man smoking shown smoking on an Ottawa patio.
The new rules apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is the beginning of the warning phase.
As of July 2, bylaw officers will have the authority to issue provincial offence notices that carry fines up to $300.
Greg Smith laughed about the changes.
"I'll take my car and go out in a field about 10 km out of town and have a smoke," he said, "because that's where we're heading."
Jim Livingstone has been smoking for 30 years.
"I'm going to abide by it, but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll like it," he said.
At the Sir John A pub on Elgin Street, supervisor Meghan Brennan said she is not concerned about business, but is worried about safety.
"On a busy Friday night, having 20 to 25 smokers on the sidewalk, disrupting traffic coming up and down the street, would be more of a problem than having a designated smoking section where people can sit," she said.
City council voted in favour of the changes in February.
I find this all sorts of ridiculous, but why do they have to have such final, strict rules when there can be somewhat of a middle ground? To be fair, I think I understand why, yet there have been examples of more successful smoking rules that benefit both the smokers and the non-smokers;
Japan, as an example, an Asian country in which many smoke, has prohibited smoking in certain busy public areas, but at the same time usually has designated smoking areas in restaurants etc. and smoking areas on the street (such as public ashtrays) which seem to work great as far as I've seen. Non-smokers are not bothered, smokers can still light up. Personally, I didn't mind such rules at all when I was over there; the public ashtrays actually helped me to socialize with a lot of people I probably wouldn't have met otherwise.
Of course, TPTB wouldn't want us smokers and non-smokers to get along peacefully... not when they can determine what is good or bad for us and make money out of it.