People residing in Brampton will no longer be permitted to set off personal fireworks after Brampton City Councillors approved a recommendation for a ban after a surge in complaints.
The ban was approved by councillors during a recent late public meeting and it amends Brampton’s current bylaw to instantly disallow the use and sale of fireworks.
Meanwhile, the film industry and city-run events are not affected by the ban.
Coun. Guratap Singh Toor seconded the motion and told the meeting that councillors “heard loud and clear, even through the election campaign, about the issue.”
Prior to the passing of the motion, only short-range fireworks that can only travel three metres were permitted on private property in the city on Victoria Day, Canada Day, Diwali and New Year’s Eve.
None of those who spoke at delegations before the vote was in favour of the ban.
While talking to Councilors before the vote, Tom Jacobs, Rocket Fireworks’ President said: “I don’t understand how a blanket ban will stop the activity that’s already happening in Brampton.” He added that people would keep buying fireworks online.
Others speakers talked about how fireworks were part of their family meetings for Diwali and suggested that the recent increase in complaints in respect of fireworks was due to people being homebound during the pandemic.
Also, they said most of the problems came from people that were using kinds of fireworks that were already prohibited in Brampton.
In 2022, Brampton received 1,491 fireworks-related calls, from 492 in 2018, according to City Councillor Dennis Keenan, who introduced the motion during Committee of Council’s meeting.
Also, Keenan said in his motion that Brampton’s bylaw and enforcement team has issued $38,000 in fines in 2022, and that excessive noise, fire-safety concerns and left-over garbage piles are part of the grievances received.
Singh Toor said: “I do not believe that the period of COVID was the cause, the outpouring of people celebrating with fireworks because even during COVID, we did see fireworks across the city.
“Banning the use and sale of fireworks in our city would do a lot better to improve the air quality in our city on a lot of days throughout the year, in light of such a devastating pandemic as the COVID, which is a respiratory illness.”
Under the new law, these fines will be increased to a minimum of $500 for discharging fireworks and $1,000 for selling fireworks.
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