Tobacco News and Interesting Information

A city councillor in North Van says he's surprised by widespread interest in his proposal to ban new drive-thru restaurants in his city.

Since lobbing the idea earlier this week, City of North Vancouver Coun. Sam Schechter says he's been getting e-mails from all over the country.

"It's certainly water-cooler talk," said Schechter of his motion to prohibit any future expansion of new drive-thru restaurants in the City of North Van.

The ban is meant to cut down on pollution caused by cars idling in line.

Schechter admits the proposal is a tiny step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"But if governments want to succeed in reaching their goals, it won't be one giant silver bullet," he said.

The municipality already has an anti-idling bylaw in place, but Schechter says it doesn't cover private businesses like drive-thrus.

But one lobbyist for the restaurant industry says any ban on drive-thrus will affect businesses much more than the environment.

"I think the real issue here is the fact that having drive-thru bans will do very little to actually reduce emissions," said Mark von Schellwitz of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

Some restaurants, he says, earn half their revenue from drive-thrus.