City smoking bylaw debate delayed until March

Calgary city council has postponed a decision to tighten upsmoking restrictions in areas like playgrounds, sports fields and outdoor rinks.

Ald. Andre Chabot pitched the idea for new restrictions, but council said Monday that no immediate decision will be made until after a report is completedin March 2013.

• READ: A timeline of some key points of smoking legislation in Canada.

Calgarian Philip Roy says he supports the idea, but he's not sure how practical it is.

"It would probably be a very hard rule to enforce," he said."I'm not too sure if there is a large problem with Calgarians who smoke around sportsfields that it woud actually affect kids' health."

Thomas Monteirolikes the idea, but also wonders if it can be enforced.

"It's probably going to be hard to get people to abide by it,"he said."But great if you can make it happen."

But some say it's not just about health, or second-hand smoke, askids are prone to copy adults they see smoking.

The Alberta governmentreleased its tobacco reduction strategyMonday afternoon. The province plans to enact legislation to ban smoking in vehicles when children are present, restrict the sale of flavoured tobacco and prohibit tobacco sales to minors.