It's taken three years, but the shaky marriage between coffee and cigarettes was snuffed out here when town council Monday night approved a tobacco free policy for town owned places.
The vote was unanimous and means that smoking is prohibited on all town owned properties from the hockey rink to the marina and waterfront. No more lighting up at the waterfront and watching the ducks or even standing outside the doors of the local rink.
"People knew it was coming and it's about time,'' offered Scott Bell, the president of the committee operating the Wellness Centre. "We've had nothing but trouble with butts all over the place and people having trouble recognizing the need not to smoke at the entrances."
Frank Morrison, with the Council for a Smoke Free P.E.I., said Montague has taken a long time to initiate a tobacco free policy, but the end result is welcomed.
"We have about 25 per cent of Island communities still working on such policies," he said from the town hall gallery after the vote was taken. "So it is slowly becoming the norm. Smoking tobacco is a killer."
