POLL: Majority support ban of personal fireworks in Newmarket

Other municipalities have banned personal fireworks use, Newmarket planning for 'open-minded' review of fireworks bylaw

Newmarkettoday.ca
July 6, 2023
Joseph Quigley

Canada Day weekend can be challenging for Newmarket resident Louise Kreuzer and her dog.

She said in her neighbourhood near Alexander Road and Gorham Street, many people set off fireworks during one of the allowed periods under Newmarket bylaws. For four straight days, she said there is disturbance.

On one occasion in a previous year, she said a drunk neighbour shot off a firework that landed on her roof.

“It's very upsetting to our dog and ourselves,” Kreuzer said. “It’s unnecessary. It’s dangerous.”

Fireworks are only allowed during the Victoria Day and Canada Day weekends in Newmarket and Aurora in specific locations. But the weekend fireworks do garner complaints annually from those concerned about the noise and environmental impact.

There are municipalities that have gone as far as to ban personal fireworks. In a NewmarketToday.ca poll, 940 readers responded to the question: Should Newmarket ban fireworks.

The poll ran from 6/29/2023 to 7/4/2023. Of the 940 votes, we can determine that 781 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

Yes, fireworks are bad for the environment and should be banned. Newmarket can explore alternatives. 26.38 % local, 26.81 % total

Only the town should be allowed to do fireworks displays. Ban personal fireworks for any private citizens, even for Victoria and Canada Day. 34.70 % local, 33.40 % total

The rules are fine as they are now, with fireworks only allowed on Victoria Day and Canada Day weekends. 24.71 % local, 25.64 % total

Fireworks should be allowed more often in the year. Let people celebrate! 14.21 % local, 14.15 % total

Results are based on an online study of adult NewmarketToday.ca readers located in Newmarket. The margin of error -- which measures sample variability -- is +/- 3.18%, 19 times out of 20.

NewmarketToday.ca uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.

Most respondents voted in support of a partial or total fireworks ban, with the most popular result being for private fireworks to get banned at 34.7 per cent. In total, about 60 per cent indicated support of either that or a total ban on all fireworks.

“For pets, for people with PTSD, for small children, it’s rather frightening and disturbing,” Kreuzer said. “I just think we need more control over this.”

But 40 per cent of respondents indicated support for maintaining personal fireworks use, with 25.6 per cent indicating support for keeping the current rules.

Newmarket resident Julie Mi has PTSD, but said that she still supports fireworks use. She said she can manage it with proper preparation, having means to distract herself during fireworks times.

“We cannot take away the joy of other people because some of us, a minority, have issues,” she said. “Because kids enjoy it, and I love to hear them laughing. And I know not everybody’s going to go to the town’s (fireworks) show.

"People usually make the sacrifice for their kids," she added. "It's only once or twice per year."

Brampton opted to pass a ban on the sale and use of fireworks in November 2022. Fireworks became only usable for film companies and in events put on by the city. The city said that significant growth relating to fireworks complaints since 2019 prompted it to act and change its bylaw.

“The safety of our residents is of utmost importance to the City of Brampton,” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said at the time. “We have heard the concerns of our community regarding the fireworks bylaw, and it is our goal that by amending it, we will all enjoy our holidays safely and without disruption, excessive noise, or debris.”

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said the town plans to review its fireworks bylaw by the next Victoria Day weekend.

He said fireworks have “definitely been a growing debate. Certainly, we see a lot of strong and different options on the matter. We tried to balance that out as a municipality and try to find a reasonable compromise, which I believe we’ve done in the past.”

Regarding the idea of potentially banning fireworks, Taylor said the future unbiased review will include input from the public.

“We’re going to go into this review as a town, and as a mayor and council, open minded of all the views and options,” Taylor said. “We’ll really get a handle on the community, and where they’re at and what the different perspectives are. Every opinion and every idea is welcomed.”

Kreuzer said she believes the municipality should take new steps on the issue.

“I really think the town needs to look at it and come up with a better plan and a better way of avoiding it,” Kreuzer said. “The fireworks, every time it comes around, it creates anxiety for me.”