Ontario's non-smoking bar and pub patio policy for Toronto

Some of you may be a little unclear as to whether you can still smoke on a patio in Ontario. The short answer is that you can, however there are a couple of snags to watch out for.

We've tried to locate the specific text on the Ontario government's website but to no surprise it doesn't seem to be posted - or easily found, to be more specific. We've spoken to enough bar owners, however, so we've pretty much deciphered what was apparently supposed to confuse people more than anything else.

Smoking is permitted on any bar patio provided that the following are adhered to:

• No person can smoke beneath any permanent overhang or covering that exceeds nine inches.
• No person can smoke under any permanent overhead structure whatsoever.
• Umbrellas may be in use but they cannot be touching other umbrellas.
• No staff person is obligated to provide service in an area where smoking is occurring.

Let's break those down a bit:

No person can smoke beneath any permanent overhang or covering that exceeds nine inches

Hmmm. We can't quite figure out why they'd go after "overhangs" but we're gonna guess it has more to do with people smoking outside of public buildings so as to get them to move closer to the curb. They might as well add it to the patio bylaws, right?

No person can smoke under any permanent overhead structure whatsoever

We can see the supposed logic in this one. Anything with an enclosed roof prevents smoke from escaping easily and we all know what our province thinks about that. This would include a beer tent that was open on all four sides and enough patios have been fined by now to understand it.

Umbrellas may be in use but they cannot be touching other umbrellas

We'll assume that even the government can't force you to sit in the direct sunlight all afternoon and that the bars put up enough of a fight to have this option included. Since it's not a "fixed" structure, it doesn't count as a roof and you can smoke - just make sure that two umbrellas aren't touching!

We won't bother with the fourth point as we doubt anyone would want to force someone to enter a smoking area against his or her will. In all fairness to smokers, however, we have to say that all we've ever heard is that wait staff tend to love smokers because of the amount of tips they used to make. Their words, not ours.

As with most things, if you're ever in doubt and plan to head out to a bar or pub patio, simply call ahead and ask in order to avoid wasting your valuable time.

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