Can You Smoke in Public in Bonnyville, Alberta?

Bonnyville has one bylaw that deals with smoking: Bylaw No. 1433-15, the Smoke Free Bylaw. Council gave it first reading on 27 January 2015 and passed it the following month. It replaced the Town’s old Health Bylaw, No. 1113-96, and the Town’s bylaws page lists no amendment since. The whole thing runs eight pages, so it is quick to read, and this page walks through what it says as of 5 November 2026.

Where is smoking banned in Bonnyville?

Indoors, the bylaw leans on the province. It bans smoking in any indoor place the public is invited into and in any workplace, following section 3 of Alberta’s Tobacco Reduction Act. Workplace is defined widely. It takes in stairwells, washrooms, lounges, enclosed parkades and work vehicles, whether or not the public ever goes there.

Outdoors, the rule is a distance. Nobody may smoke within ten metres of:

• a playground
• a seasonal skating rink, which includes public lakes and ponds where people skate
• a skate park
• a sports field such as a soccer pitch, ball diamond or tennis court (golf courses are left out)
• a water spray park
• a toboggan hill

The ban covers a zone around those places, so a bench at the far end of a park with no rink or playground nearby falls outside the bylaw’s reach.

Private living accommodation is exempt, and the bylaw defines it to include a hotel or motel room while a guest is staying in it. The bylaw also says it does not affect traditional spiritual practices or ceremonies.

Does the Bonnyville bylaw cover vaping?

Read literally, no. The bylaw defines smoking as inhaling, exhaling, burning or having control over a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, hookah pipe or other lighted smoking implement. Vapes, e-cigarettes and cannabis are not named. A device that makes vapour without burning anything is not obviously a lighted implement, though the text does not settle that question either way, so this is our reading rather than a ruling.

Vaping is not left unregulated, because Alberta’s own rules apply in Bonnyville as everywhere else in the province. The province lists hospital, school and childcare properties, playgrounds and sports fields among the places where vaping is prohibited, and its enforcement page shows a $250 fine for vaping in a prohibited place. The provincial page does not give a distance in metres, so the ten-metre figure belongs to the town bylaw and to smoking. The Alberta bylaw page and the provincial summary cover the province side in more detail.

What are the fines?

Section 8 sets the penalties on conviction.

Offence	Fine
First	$200
Second or later	At least $200, up to $2,500

Each day an offence goes on counts as its own offence. Someone who does not pay can face up to six months in jail. In practice most people meet the bylaw as a ticket. A Town Peace Officer or an RCMP member can hand over an offence ticket that lets you pay the $200 straight to the Town and close the matter. For a first offence they can instead issue a violation ticket that asks for a court appearance but allows a voluntary payment as an alternative. For a second or later offence the violation ticket requires you to appear in court, with no voluntary payment option.

The no-smoking sign the bylaw prescribes carries the figure on its face: “Maximum fine $2,500.”

Who enforces it, and where do you report a problem?

The bylaw names Town Peace Officers and RCMP members as the people who can inspect premises and serve tickets. The Town’s Municipal Enforcement page says Community Peace Officers enforce Town bylaws and take complaints in person at Town Hall, through the Town’s app, by phone at 780-826-3496 (toll-free 1-866-826-3496) or through an online bylaw complaint form. That page does not mention smoking or vaping by name, so a complaint about a smoke-free place goes through the general bylaw channel. Town Hall is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

What do businesses have to do?

A proprietor, meaning the owner, manager or whoever is in charge of the place, must not let anyone smoke where the bylaw forbids it and must not leave ashtrays out. The bylaw gives a clear way to stay on the right side of the rule. A proprietor who asks a smoker to stop, asks anyone who refuses to leave, refuses them further service and reports the refusal to the RCMP is treated as having complied. Signs have to be posted near every public entrance, and nobody may remove or deface them.

How many people smoke in Bonnyville?

Alberta’s Regional Dashboard shows 24.2% of Bonnyville residents aged 12 and over as daily smokers in 2017. The page was last updated in February 2023 and does not name the survey behind the figure, so it is a rough marker from several years back and may not match today’s rate.

What we could not confirm

• The Town’s bylaws page lists a separate file, Amending Bylaw No. 1472-18, Cannabis Regulations. We saw the listing but did not read the text, so we cannot say what it allows or bans for consuming cannabis in public.
• The day of the second and third readings is handwritten and unreadable in the scanned copy. Only the month and year are given above.
• The bylaw says nothing about distances from building doors. We found no Bonnyville rule on that point, and that is not proof that none exists.
• We could not confirm whether the fine amounts have changed since 2015. The Town’s bylaw page shows no later amendment, and the Town office is the place to ask.

This page describes a municipal bylaw and is not legal advice. If you have received a ticket, the ticket itself lists what to do and by when.