Monday, June 4, 2007
Page: A10
Section: Comment
Source: Times Colonist
Saanich has become the latest Greater Victoria municipality to ban the sale of fireworks. It's a step in the right direction, but too small a step.
Saanich residents who want to set off fireworks will be able to do so -- as long as they buy a $10 permit, go through training, and buy the fireworks somewhere other than in Saanich.
View Royal, Colwood and Langford have also banned the sale of fireworks. The Songhees Nation plans a similar ban, making it the first reserve in Canada to take such a step.
But that leaves plenty of other areas where fireworks shops will be able to do a bang-up business. And if all the municipalities in Greater Victoria bring in bans, people will still be able to get fireworks up-Island or the mainland.
So don't expect the ban to reduce the noise around Halloween, the number of injuries to be treated or the property damage that results. We won't see real progress until there are consistent, hard regulations from all municipalities -- or better yet, the provincial government.
Have we forgotten what happened last fall? In Oak Bay, a group of youths fired Roman candles at public works staff and police officers. In Saanich, a pipe bomb packed with fireworks exploded in the face of 18-year-old Stuart Skillings, sending copper shrapnel into his brain. In Victoria, a community centre's bus was burnt after vandals set off fireworks inside it. There was similar mayhem up-Island.
That prompted the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police to call for a province-wide ban on fireworks sales -- an idea that has been rejected by Solicitor General John Les.
Les has said it's up to individual municipalities to draft fireworks regulations. He is wrong. It is time for the provincial government to take a stand.
There is a place for fireworks displays, of course -- as long as they are organized on a community level and run by people who know what they are doing. The same day that Saanich introduced its ban, it was announced in Vancouver that the Celebration of Light will return this summer. Five nights of fireworks are expected to be seen by two million people.
Events such as this make sense. If a community can produce a spectacular show there is no need for amateurs to waste their time and money, and possibly their fingers, making things go boom.
Yes, we know there is a thrill in setting off fireworks, just as there is a thrill in racing through residential areas in a car. Thrilling, but irresponsible.
It's time for a province-wide ban. It's time for Les to act.
No comments:
Post a Comment