Another Ontario city could ban fireworks this month

Following in the footsteps of neighbouring municipalities, another Ontario city is considering prohibiting members of the public from setting off fireworks under any circumstances.

Mississauga council members will, at a meeting later this month, deliberate on a fireworks ban that has been under consideration since the spring.

Initially proposed as one of multiple approaches to "growing public safety concerns, complaints, and enforcement challenges related to fireworks use" back in May, a full moratorium on the use of pyrotechnics has since been formally recommended as the path forward by the city's Commissioner of Community Services.

The option is "the most effective and sustainable solution to improve public safety, enable more effective and consistent enforcement, and support long-term behaviour change toward safer ways to celebrate," states a September report that came after months of research and review, including community consultations.

"Restrictions on specific days and times have proven extremely difficult to enforce given the fleeting nature of fireworks use, [while] a prohibition creates a single, clear rule, eliminates ambiguity, and allows the City to work toward long-term compliance while ultimately reducing enforcement costs and demands," it further explains.

If approved, the move would add Mississauga to a growing list of locales that have imposed such regulations surrounding roman candles and the like in recent years, Brampton, Milton, Halton Hills, and Caledon among them.

Residents of other towns have also petitioned for heavier-handed fireworks bylaws, given the loud, disruptive, and sometimes unsafe nature of the celebratory tool.

The subject seems to be brought up after almost every light show-worthy holiday in Toronto, with both individuals and organizations long citing safety risks to animals and humans (plus fire and pollution concerns), along with issues of leftover garbage, strain on City and emergency services due to an inundation of hundreds of noise complaints and related calls, use at inappropriate times and in non-sanctioned spaces, and more.

After deferring the item, Mississauga City Council will vote on the potential fireworks bylaw changes on Oct. 15. If passed, it will mean a "full prohibition on the sale, distribution, possession and use of consumer fireworks" within the city's bounds.

Such a ban would come just days ahead of Diwali celebrations on Oct. 20.

Some groups have expressed concern that implementing such a ban would impinge on religious freedoms, with Diwali celebrations cited as one source of the complaints that have prompted similar prohibitions.