Yellowknife (Apr 11/03) - Bob Jackson, a smoker and longtime business owner, calls it a violation of rights and says his business may be doomed.

Lynn Huang sees it as an opportunity to branch out, cater to more families, but she has already lost a core of customers to the Legion and the Elks lounge.

These are the early reactions to the Yellowknife bylaw making it illegal to smoke in local restaurants and dining rooms that came into effect April 1.

Jackson, owner of the Leisure Cafe on 50th Street, said almost all his clientele are smokers and the new rule is destroying his business.

"We're dead," he said. "We didn't expect it to be this bad."

Jackson said most of his usual customers go to the Legion for breakfast or lunch because they still can smoke there. He said he wishes he could have been part of the decision to change the rules.

"To my knowledge and everybody else's knowledge they're violating our rights," he said.

"They went ahead and did it without even asking or having us vote on it. Who are they to tell us we can't smoke?"

Jackson is circulating a petition and has already collected 100 names of smokers who oppose the bylaw.

"People come in, see all these non-smoking signs and turn around and go out the door," he said. "It's happening all the time."

"What are we going to do, stand outside and raise our hands and ask the mayor 'hey can we go to the bathroom now?'

"Some of the restaurants are going to end up closing down because of this."

"This city is built on 99.9 per cent smokers."

Huang, who owns The Diner, said she's lost most of her coffee break crowd but the dinner crowd remains steady.

"People know we have good food. We have a popular Chinese buffet so they keep coming in."

Huang said she will have to focus on bringing in more families and more food customers.

"It's not fair for them to do this to us but leave the lounges alone," she said.

"On coffee breaks we're dead but the lounges are packed. We lose a lot of business there."

Huang said it was too early to tell whether the increased dinner crowd would balance out the lost afternoon business.

Originally scheduled to come into effect on Jan. 1, 2005, city council voted in December to move it up to April 1. Only Coun. Alan Woytuik was opposed to it.

Municipal enforcement manager Doug Gillard said bylaw officers visited every restaurant in the city this week to ensure they have removed ashtrays and have complied with the non-smoking order.

"We haven't had any problems there," he said. "Once we get going we won't be doing any regular visits. It's up to people to call us with complaints."

If restaurants are caught allowing patrons to smoke, the business owner will be served with a $250 ticket, Gillard said. The amount stays at $250 for subsequent offenses.

Gillard the bylaw applies to any establishment that allows people under the age of 19.

The ban doesn't include areas outside the restaurant, he said.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city held public consultations but nobody who took part in them was opposed.

"None of the 'opposed' crowd came to be consulted," he said. "That's in stark contrast to the consultations in '94 when we first introduced the smoking bylaw."

Van Tighem said it's indicative of the public shift away from smoking that's taken place over the past decade.

"They talk about smokers' rights. What rights?" he said.

"Smoking is a privilege and not a right and that can be taken away."