Dear Editor,
I have some concerns with the proposed legislation that Naomi Baker is attempting to have passed [Anti-smoking petition goes to legislature, Langley Advance Times, April 10].
Let me caveat this by stating I am a non-smoker (all my life) and a home owner.
My biggest issue with her argument and proposing this legislation, is that she moved into the condo-unit knowing that there was smoking, and when it finally affected her and her baby’s, well-being, she started this petition. It is looking to ban smoking from all condo (and townhouse) units, period.
There have always been non-smoking condo/townhouse properties, and ones that allow smoking, and have been so for quite a long time. Why couldn’t she have bought a condo in a non-smoking property in the first place, or moved.
I know the latter is a hassle and pain in the butt, but think of work she has done on this crusade of hers, and how she has had time to do so.
While part of me does understand the dangers of second-hand smoke and how it affected her, I genuinely feel bad for those who do smoke, as their rights are being pushed to the side by this woman’s personal crusade.
What is scary about this is that it will now limit even more the options for those who do smoke, in terms of owning a condo/townhouse, which is cheaper than a stand-alone house in most cases.
Yes, I know smoking isn’t good for a person’s health, but it’s a person’s choice to smoke, and they may not be able to stop, due to its addictiveness. Or they may be at an age at which the effects of trying to quit may be a risk to their health.
This proposed law or policy is literally going to force smokers out of a possible home purchase and force them to find harder-to-get alternatives.
Naomi Baker’s crusade started out as a personal and selfish one. It’s snowballed into this.
Although I don’t agree with smoking as a whole, I feel like she is trying to put aside the rights of people who smoke, and replace them with the rights of non-smokers.
In the world we live in, all individuals have the same rights, so where is the happy medium?
She spearheaded the proposal for her own condo complex, which voted to be a non-smoking property now. To have a law or policy that determines no on in BC can smoke in a Condo/Townhouse property is going to gatekeep those who smoke into being able to buy such a property.
The current policy should be left alone, and continue to allow Strata and its strata members, to control what can and cannot happen in a dwelling place such as a condo or townhouse. This would continue to allow smokers the alternative to buy a place of their own, a more affordable alternative to buying a stand-alone house.
As well, it puts the onus on those who want to live in a smoke-free environment to find such, and not place the blame on others. You can’t tell me she didn’t know it was a condo property where people could smoke.
What is sad in this whole debacle is how it once again shows how society is pushing aside the rights of others who are deemed as not following a societal norm.
Just because it’s not healthy and smokers are stigmatized does not allow people to always put their rights above others’.
Find the happy medium, people.
Kirby Yablonski, Langley
READ MORE: Langley mom wants smoking ban in multi-unit dwellings
