Conservation Co-operative Homes here in Ottawa has banned cigarette smoking on their premises. This co-op has been touted as being 'green' and 'energy efficient' in all things, including a healthy lifestyle, so it's ironic to read that another kind of smoke has been spewing forth from the building for years - unabated:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/07/24/ottawa-no-smoking-condo-co-op.html
If members do not co-operate with this new by-law, there are consequences:
As for enforcing the new rules at the Conservation Co-operative's apartments, anyone caught smoking in the building could be subject to membership reviews with the board. But the co-op is urging members who still smoke to consider quitting.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ottawa-non-profit-housing-group-first-smoke-free-223305494.html
And I thought that members would only be penalized if they used too much plastic wrap!*
*The comments from readers on the CBC site are very telling as to how ridiculous this by-law is.
Figures it would start in Sandy Hill. I suppose you noticed that the guy quoted was part of a committee that was looking into this for 2 1/2 years! God, another useless example of make-work projects at co-ops just to earn precious participation hours and feel self-important.
ReplyDeleteOne little thing article never bothered mentioning is the nasty little business about grandfathering. They can adopt this moronic policy from now on but I can't see how they can enforce it with existing residents.
What worries me is that if someone challenged this in Court either to counter eviction or just to overturn policy, judge may actually rule against them. Courts are notorious for not interfering in the "democratic internal governance" of co-ops barring something in the extreme. They say it's not their place to interfere.
I'd also like to think that no co-op is going to start evicting smokers for the sake of it but some have tried (and succeeded) for other by-law infractions --- not arrears. Still, a test case w/b interesting.
As for anything Pippa Beck says, their "survey" and "analysis" fit exactly the conclusions they wanted in the first place. So, it is as useless as the day is long.
Yes, I agree that surveys often meet the criteria wished for - in this case to ban smoking. I'm not a smoker myself, but I can well imagine how preposterous it would be to try to enforce this by-law in member's private units. Are they going to create Sniffer Committees and sleeper spies to catch the offenders? The Courts might indeed side with a co-op in an eviction proceeding, leaving it up to the status quo's new by-law. It is very difficult to get representation to deal with co-op disputes, as no one wants to intervene in the 'democratic nature' of co-ops. I'll be writing more about this in upcoming blogs.
ReplyDeleteThe only law firm I know of in the city that would represent or provide guidance (inc. a free consult) for co-op members is Quinn Thiele Mineault (used to be PQT). Firm has lately moved to specialize in Personal Injury cases but M. Thiele acc. to website still deals with landlord/tenant and housing co-op issues for members. Others represent only co-ops themselves.
ReplyDelete