Lloydminster has approved a sweeping ban on smoking, ending a situation that saw people in bars and restaurants on the Saskatchewan side barred from lighting up while those in Alberta puffed away.
On Wednesday night, residents voted in a plebiscite to prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces across the city, applying on both sides of the border.
Bylaw 23 passed by a margin of nearly three to one, with 2,928 in favour of the ban and 1,008 against.
The ban is to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2007.
Since the Saskatchewan government's smoking ban went into effect on Jan. 1, 2005, Lloydminster has had two policies.
In bars and restaurants on the Saskatchewan side of the border, anyone who smoked was subject to a fine — while in Alberta, smokers faced no such penalty.
The plebiscite was one of a handful that municipalities were holding as part of elections in Saskatchewan on Wednesday night.
Lloydminster's incumbent mayor Ken Baker was acclaimed in the vote.
In a referendum in Moose Jaw, voters agreed to spend $15 million of city money on a replacement for the civic centre — the building with the sloped roof sometimes called "the crushed can."
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