GUELPH POLITICAST #438 – The Fireworks Lobby (feat. Aleem Kanji)

Guelph Politicast

A number of Ontario municipalities including Brampton, Woodstock, Milton, and Halton Hills have banned fireworks outright, and several others including Kitchener are looking at new regulations. Here in Guelph, a new permitting system is on the table; City staff and some councillors think that this may be the best of both worlds, but others think it’s the worst, including members of the fireworks lobby!

The last review of Guelph’s fireworks bylaw was in 2013, but council passed a decree last year to move up the timing of the next review by several years due to repeated complaints to councillors about small fireworks displays in area parks, and the setting off of fireworks, mostly by young people, at odd days and hours before and after those commemorations.

Guelph’s proposal to fix all that is to implement a permit system. Essentially, if you want to set off fireworks you will have to go to the City and pay a fee, which will then allow you to buy fireworks and set them off at one of Guelph’s preferred locations so long as you have insurance, safety inspections, an animal safety plan, and something called a licensed display supervisor. Problem solved, right? Not to fast because the people whose livelihood is tied to their sale and distribution have notes.

To provide them, we have Aleem Kanji, who is the chief advocacy officer for the Canadian National Fireworks Association. He's going to talk about his work advocating for safe fireworks use, fighting the nation-wide trend of fireworks bans, and why he thinks bans don’t ultimately work. Kanji will also talk about his advocacy to Guelph council, his response to the majority support in this city for a ban, and his counter-arguments to some of the talking points in favour of a ban.

So let's talk about the fireworks over fireworks on this week's Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about the Canadian National Fireworks Association at their website. The question of Guelph’s new fireworks bylaw will be coming back to city council for ratification on Tuesday October 29, and that agenda will be published on the City’s website on Thursday, and you will have until Friday October 25 to sign up to delegate if you like. In the meantime, you can check out the reports from Committee of the Whole.

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