Vancouver council to consider ban on buying fireworks

A Vancouver city councillor wants to end the personal use of fireworks in the city.

Pete Fry has put forward a motion for next Tuesday's council meeting calling for a ban on consumers buying fireworks in the city, beginning in 2021.

The motion asks for staff to come up with a plan to ban the retail sale of fireworks, with the following considerations:

• Addressing enforcement and compliance with any ban.
• Allowing exemptions for displaying fireworks during public events like New Year's Eve and the Celebration of Light, along with cultural and religious occasions like Diwali.
• Requiring authorized fire permits from the City of Vancouver to "ignite, explode, set off or detonate display fireworks."

Currently, Vancouver's bylaw restricts the sale of fireworks to Oct. 25-31 every year. There are also additional regulations during that time, and anyone breaking the city's rules can face a $500 fine.

Listen to what people in Vancouver had to say about the proposal:

Vancouverites react to proposed private fireworks ban

5 years ago

Duration 0:16

Some agree with the motion. Others don't want to lose the fun.

Patchwork of rules across metro area

The idea of banning fireworks has occasionally come up in municipalities across Metro Vancouver, with a 2017 petition in Vancouvergarnering more than 1,000 signatures.

Fry's motion points out that fireworks are already banned in a number of nearby cities, including Richmond, Surrey, Delta, Coquitlam and the City of North Vancouver. His motion also argues fireworks can have an adverse environmental impact, and cause harm for animals and survivors of gun violence.

"This is one of those things that is probably better left in the past," he said, adding that the average cost per year to the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services from fireworks-related issuesis around $380,000.

"We can certainly still have the occasional display for pyrotechnics, the Celebration of Light, those kind of things. But in the hands of professionalsand limiting the impacts on our environment and on our acoustic enjoyment of the city."

Debate not new

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he hadn't researched Fry's motion yet, but was happy to have the debate around the council table.

"I would listen closely to what the fire chief has to say, because they are the experts in this area. But it's a good place to discuss as a council, as it's within our jurisdiction," he said.

In 2016,Vancouver Fire and Rescue public information officerJonathan Gormick told CBC News that Vancouver hadconsidered an outright ban, but decided against it for safety reasons.

"Completely prohibiting the sale probably wouldn't stop people from acquiring them," he said.

"What it would dois make them go underground and purchase fireworks and firecrackers that are illegal for sale and definitely not safe for use."

It was an argument echoed by Harold Yuen, president of Toyland Company, which sells fireworks in Vancouver every year.

"If you ban the legal fireworks, maybe theproblem that they want to address will not go away," he argued.

"This is going to impact many businesses. If that's [Fry's] reaction, it tells a lot about how he feels about supporting local businesses."

Fry believes the benefits outweigh the loss to businesses.

"There's lots of business models that don't stand the test of time, and this may well be one of them."