08-06-05, 19:10
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Hi People,
This is for those interested in the continueing saga ... K.
Quote:
Wed, June 8, 2005
Province wins 1st smoke fight
By CP
The Manitoba government won the first legal battle over its anti-smoking law Tuesday, but opponents say they will continue their fight to have the law struck down as unconstitutional.
Finley Michaud, a restaurant owner in Selkirk, north of Winnipeg, pleaded guilty to letting customers smoke and failing to post no-smoking signs in an incident last fall.
Michaud, the first business owner to be convicted under the smoking law, was ordered to pay $1,560 in fines and surcharges.
Theresa Oswald, Manitoba's healthy living minister, said the government will continue to issue fines and enforce the law.
"There have been, unfortunately, a few incidents of repeated non-compliance. And even after warnings were issued, that continued," Oswald said.
"Although there is a vocal minority out there, we find that the majority of Manitobans are complying with the law and indeed supportive of the law."
Michaud's partner, Leslie Dumas, faces similar charges and is scheduled to appear in court at the end of the month.
News of the conviction came as a surprise to Gary Desrosiers, a bar owner in Brunkild. But he added the conviction won't deter him and other rural bar owners from trying to overturn the law.
"Clearly to us the law is unfair and we believe unconstitutional," he said. "And we're going to continue fighting regardless."
The constitutional challenge will be heard this summer during the trial of Robert Jenkinson, a bar owner in Treherne.
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