Gillingham wants to know whether drone bylaw might fly

Coun. Scott Gillinghamwants to know whether the City of Winnipeg can regulate the use and sale of drones.

Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) has authored a councilmotion to ask city staff to look into the feasibility of creating a bylaw toregulateunmanned aerial vehicles, also known as UAVsor drones.

"This motion is just to ensure UAVs are operated safely," Gillingham said Tuesday in an interview, citing the potential for collisions between drones and other aircraft.

"Therehave been sightings of drones by WestJet pilotsand Air Canada pilots as they're coming in for final approachin Winnipeg. That's a concerning thing. That's a publicsafety issue," he said.

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Gillingham said there are alsoreports in other cities of camera-equipped droneslooking into people's yards or homes.

The councillor said he'd like to know whether Winnipeg could draft a bylaw to alleviate privacy concerns and safety concerns when it comes to operating drones. The retail piece of the legislation would involve customer education at the point of sale, he said.

The motion is slated to come before September's meeting of council, which takes place Wednesday, where it will be automatically referred to the October meeting of council's public works committee.