The Town of Halton Hills is poised to ban the sale and discharge of personal fireworks – again.
At yesterday’s council meeting (Oct. 28), Halton Hills Council members voted 8-3 in favour of the ban, which will still allow professional special event shows like the Canada Day fireworks in Acton. However, it will no longer allow members of the public to set off 'low-hazard' fireworks in their yard on Victoria Day, Canada Day, the Lunar New Year, Diwali and New Year’s Eve.
The decision has to be ratified at the next council meeting Nov. 18 before it's final, which means fireworks for Diwali later this week will still be permitted.
Council heard a presentation by Forum Research, which conducted a statistically-valid survey of 450 Halton Hills residents on the sale and discharge of fireworks. The results showed that only 40 per cent of residents supported a ban.
Many of those in favour pointed to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ support for a fireworks ban.
“The most responsible thing to do is follow the fire safety experts on fire safety matters,” said Councillor Chantal Garneau during the meeting.
Councillor D'Arcy Keene - who along with Councillors Joseph Racinsky and Clark Somerville, voted against the motion - said council should listen to what the residents want.
“The bottom line is 60 per cent are opposed,” Keene said. “It’s irresponsible to support a ban going against two-thirds of the population.”
“A survey is another tool to make a decision,” countered Councillor Jason Brass. “It’s dangerous to govern by survey.”
Councillor Jane Fogal said people receiving a phone call for a survey don’t have all the information available to them that council does and it's their job to make an informed decision. She brought up the example of Halton Hills prohibiting smoking in restaurants and other workplaces.
“We didn’t go out to the public to see if that would be popular or not, we looked at the scientific data. It was causing cancer in people who didn’t want to smoke,” she said. “In the end, that’s (banning smoking in workplaces) what we did and within a few months or a year, the province came onside and did the same thing. We took a leadership position because it was the right thing to do.”
Just before the vote, an annoyed Somerville said, “Low-hazard fireworks includes sparklers. You’re about to ban sparklers for kids. Way to go.”
The survey also found that 33 per cent of residents had attended a fireworks display in the past year, 19 per cent had attended a family or neighbourhood fireworks event and 11 per cent had purchased or discharged fireworks.
Sixty-two percent said a fireworks ban would have no impact on their lives.
Residents’ level of concern in regard to fireworks was almost equally split between not concerned at all (28 per cent), not very concerned (22 per cent), somewhat concerned (28 per cent) and very concerned (23 per cent)
For now, the vote brings an end to council’s months-long saga over fireworks. Earlier this year, council heard the results of a report by Dillon Consulting on the negative impact of fireworks on wildlife and the environment.
In May, staff recommended the Town conduct a survey of its residents before amending its fireworks bylaw. Instead, Garneau put forward a motion to immediately ban fireworks and council voted 6-5 in favour. But when it came time to ratify the decision later that month, it was then defeated in a split 5-5 vote. Many councillors talked about the lack of public input, leading Racinsky to put a motion forward to follow staff’s recommendation of conducting a survey.
