Ottawa committee proposes hookah ban at parks

Ottawa has more than a dozen hookah bars that offer tobacco-free smoking. (CBC)

A committee of Ottawa city councillors has approved a motion to ban the use of hookas in parks, but stopped short of banning them on patios and inside restaurants.

The hookah, or nargile, is a Middle Eastern water pipe that can be used to smoke herbal products other than tobacco.

The city's smoking bylaw was extended this year to extend to patios, city parks and beaches, but the bylaw only deals with tobacco and not other substances.

Hookah bars sell products that are typically a blend of molasses and fruit, although some hookah bars illegally cut the blend with tobacco at customers' requests.

The city committee was considering a recommendation to close that loophole and prohibit the smoking of water pipes and non-tobacco products on outdoor municipal property.

But city lawyers said they want to hear the result on an ongoing court battle in Vancouver before giving councillors an opinion on an all-out ban.

A ban on hookahs in parks must still be approved by full council.

Anti-smoking activists such as Pippa Beck had wanted to see the loophole closed.

"You're still inhaling carbon monoxide, particulate matter and all of the biproducts of combustion, so smoke in the lungs is not a good thing, it's not good for health," said Beck.

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Ottawa committee proposes hookah ban at parks