Group granted stay of no-smoking orders

The first round in the ongoing dispute between the Northwestern Health Unit and area businesses opposed to the its ban on smoking in the workplace has gone to business.
Eight businesses from Kenora/Rainy River were successful in obtaining a temporary stay against health inspectors who earlier had issued cease-and-desist orders against them.
The stays were issued during a tele-conference hearing Tuesday.
Doug Stemkoski, owner of the Lakeshore Hotel in Keewatin, is among the eight. He also is co-chair of the Freedom of Choice Coalition—a group of businesses that is opposing the health unit’s edict.
He said the stay applies only to those specific businesses and does not affect the orders against others.
“We have an interim stay for the eight businesses until the hearing in the week of Feb. 10,” Stemkoski said. “There’s nothing they [health inspectors] can do until the appeal is heard.”
Stemkoski added his group will try to get a permanent stay until it is determined in court whether the health unit, in fact, has the authority to impose these no-smoking orders.
And that could be months—or even years—down the road. “The fun is just beginning,” he said.
For Denise Pelletier, it hasn’t been a lot of fun. The owner of Ted’s Restaurant in Kenora was the primary plaintiff at the hearing and was present there with her lawyer while the health unit’s lawyer was in Winnipeg.
Pelletier, who’s been at her business virtually continuously since the orders first were issued at the beginning of the month, said Tuesday’s ruling by the Health Services Review Board in Toronto came as a tremendous relief.
“It’s been extremely stressful for everybody,” she said. “I felt it was important to be at the restaurant as much as possible to deal with the inspectors, because I didn’t want to dump this on my employees.”
Pelletier said inspectors entered her premises three times with cease-and-desist orders, but on all occasions the encounters were cordial.
“They were just doing their jobs and so was I,” she reasoned. “There is no reason for it to become personal.”
But she did admit to some personal satisfaction when the ruling from Toronto came through.
“There were high-fives all round,” she remarked. “Even our non-smoking customers congratulated us.”
Since Tuesday’s ruling, Pelletier said she has oberved more businesses in Kenora, including those not formally part of the coalition, gradually reintroduced smoking on their premises.