Toronto hookah lounge owners fight ban in court
A lawyer for four Toronto hookah lounges told a judge the city’s ban would have a “catastrophic effect” on his clients.

thestar.com
June 24, 2016
By David Rider

Owners of Toronto hookah lounges can breathe easy until at least late August while the city’s new water pipe ban is challenged in court.

Ryan Zigler, a lawyer representing four Scarborough lounge owners, argued Friday that the ban on hookah use in city-licensed businesses, passed by city council last fall, should be scrapped.

Lawyers for the City of Toronto will present their case to Justice Robert Goldstein of the Superior Court of Justice on Aug. 22.

Zigler told court that the city has agreed not to take action against Toronto hookah lounges until Goldstein rules on the challenge. The ban, triggered by a request from Toronto’s medical officer of health, was to have taken effect April 1.

Water pipes, also called hookah and shisha, burn tobacco or other substances including molasses. Users inhale smoke pulled through a water chamber. Smoking and chatting in lounges is a popular pastime in many countries including Egypt.

Zigler told Goldstein he should quash the bylaw that established the ban, or declare it of “no effect”, because it unfairly puts his clients out of business.

“This bylaw has a catastrophic effect on the applicants,” some of whom could lose their life savings even though they were granted a city licence and, in some cases, operated for years with no problems.

Zigler argued that city council prohibited a business, but it does not have that right under the provincial City of Toronto Act that establishes the city’s powers.

He also told the judge the ban conflicts with the Ontario Health and Safety Act’s aim of identifying workplace hazards and getting employers to eliminate them. Instead, he said, the ban eliminates jobs altogether.

A city licensing official has argued that Toronto banned an activity to protect the health of staff and customers, and has not banned a business, Zigler said.

Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society who observed Friday’s hearing, said in an interview that he has no doubt the hookah ban will survive the challenge.

“The city of Toronto has authority to adopt bylaws to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of its residents and that’s exactly what the bylaw does,” he said. “Second-hand smoke is second-hand smoke.”

A growing number of governments are clamping down on water pipe use, he said, noting that Ottawa city council will soon consider a health board recommendation to ban hookah smoking in public places.