shisha bars toronto

Hookah ban in Toronto not a done deal yet

Hookah might be banned in Toronto, but many bars are still offering these water pipes to customers, reports the Toronto Star.

After Toronto's medical officer David McKeown released a report seeking to prohibit hookah from local businesses, city council voted last fall to ban them from Toronto establishments and this new bylaw came into effect on April 1 of this year.

According to the Star, however, the city licensing office is holding off ticketing businesses until July 1.

And, as the Toronto Star reports, four hookah bar owners in Scarborough are heading to court in June to dispute this bylaw.

"Our argument is that the [City of Toronto] act does not give the city the power to pass a bylaw that prohibits my clients from operating a lawful business anywhere in the city of Toronto. We say the bylaw puts them out of business," said the lounge owners' lawyer Ryan Zigler to the Star.

Do you still smoke hookah at Toronto bars? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by Jesse Milns.


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

What Toronto looked like over 155 years ago

The surprisingly radical history of that church they built the Toronto Eaton Centre around

Toronto has one of the highest unemployment rates among major cities in Canada

The average hourly wage for Canadian employees is now almost $35

This Ontario city is trying to lure residents from Toronto with its cheap cost of living

This ultra-poisonous Ontario plant looks delicious but can easily kill you

Here's why there's an abandoned space-age bunker below a Toronto highway

People in Toronto wondering about mysterious black boxes spotted around the city