When it’s a multicultural imperative. “Hookah lounges exempt from bylaw,” by Frances Bula in the Vancouver Sun (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
Vancouver’s hookah-parlour owners are celebrating after winning an exemption Thursday from a proposed new bylaw that will ban smoking on most sidewalks in commercial districts, in bus shelters and even in taxis passing through Vancouver.
In giving the bylaw unanimous approval-in-principle, Vancouver city council members bowed to arguments that hookah lounges provide an important cultural space for the city’s Muslims and granted them a temporary exemption.
The bylaw, which provides for fines of $100 to $2,000, won’t come into effect until the legal department has drafted Thursday’s amendments. No firm date for its implementation has been set.