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WEDNESDAY June 9, 2010
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Coquitlam’s Relay for Life is on track to become the top fundraising relay in the country — for the third year in a row.
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Want a rabbit? Spay or neuter it
A Victoria-based phenomenon has got politicians on this side of the water thinking about how to deal with Fluffy bunny — and her many offspring. Coquitlam council passed a notice of motion Monday that will see staff begin the process of changing the city’s bylaws around the sale of rabbits. If Monday’s motion gets drafted into law, only rabbits that have been spayed or neutered can be sold in the city. Originally submitted by Coun. Mae Reid, the motion changed over the course of Monday’s debate from a total prohibition on the sale of rabbits to one allowing only the sale of those that are infertile. That change forced Reid to withdraw her support for the motion, although all the other councillors endorsed it. “I only want the total prohibition or nothing,” Reid said. Her motivation to submit the notice of motion was born out of last month’s decision to begin culls at the University of Victoria (UVic), amid concerns that the creatures were decimating the school’s sports fields. Varying reports suggest about 2,000 feral rabbits live on the university grounds, and most are the descendants of abandoned pets. “It’s just inhumane,” Reid said of the UVic situation. “It’s caused a great division among staff and students and it’s just a terrible thing.” Reid also pointed to an increase in the rabbit population in Mundy Park about 20 years ago, a phenomenon that was at least partly attributed to rabbit owners abandoning their pets over time. Mayor Richard Stewart said his family has owned a handful of rabbits, and that while CONT. ON PAGE 4, see PRICE.
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Smoking may soon be banned on public patios like this one in Coquitlam, at the Starbucks at Como Lake Village shopping centre.
Coquitlam closer to smoking ban Referendum results give council incentive to ban butts on public patios Stories by John Kurucz jkurucz@thenownews.com The nuances still have to be hammered out, but Coquitlam is moving towards snuffing out cigarettes. Council unanimously endorsed a notice of motion Monday that would ban smoking on public patios and spaces where those under the age of 16 may be present. Initially brought forward in January, Coun. Selina Robinson’s motion was deferred until after last month’s byelection, which featured a non-binding public referendum on the matter. The results were resoundingly in favour of the ban, as 72 per cent (3,744 voters) endorsed the move, versus 28 per cent (1,441 people) who voted against it. “The non-binding vote that we had, I think, spoke very loudly with 72 per cent of folks asking us to
consider a ban,” Robinson said Monday. Armed with a sign prepared by a Grade 4 student at Parkland Elementary school that read, “Please don’t smoke in public places where kids are,” Robinson read a handful of letters from school-aged children supporting the ban. She characterized the six-monthlong debate as a “highly charged issue” that has seen her receive her fair share of e-mails from those who don’t believe a ban is necessary, and others who question the science linking cigarette smoke to various forms of cancer. But despite council’s unanimous endorsement of the ban, many around the table questioned how the city could enforce the proposed bylaw. “Is it healthy? No, it’s not. Is it a good habit? No, it’s not … If I thought for one minute that we could enforce this, it would be a different thing. But what we’re doing is passing bylaws just to pass them, to say we did it and we did the right thing,” said Coun.
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Lou Sekora. “But there’s nobody to enforce them, so I’ve got great difficulty with this bylaw.” Coun. Brent Asmundson also expressed concern over enforcement, insisting that “we really can’t enforce this.” He added that he’s hopeful the proposed bylaw will, at the very least, change people’s attitudes. “I don’t want to raise people’s expectations that the city is going to be out there backing them up with the bylaws on this, because we won’t,” he said. Newly minted Coun. Neal Nicholson, however, doesn’t see enforcement as much of an issue and believes the community will band around the ban. “I think enforcement is not a problem. You don’t need to have it done by bylaw enforcement officers,” he said. “We don’t need bylaw enforcement officers to go out and tell people not to smoke. The public CONTINUED ON PAGE 4, see COUNCILLOR.
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