But of course!
Muslims exempt from Vancouver’s newest non-smoking bylaws:
Vancouver’s hookah-parlour owners are celebrating after winning an exemption Thursday from a proposed new bylaw that will ban smoking on most sidewalks in commercial districts, in bus shelters and even in taxis passing through Vancouver
Hamid Mohammadian, operator of the Persian Teahouse on Davie Street, thanked council for the exemption.
“We are very happy because this is our culture. I have one customer, 75 years old, who said ‘I will have no other place to go if you close,'” he said (…)
But he said hookah lounges are essential for immigrants from hookah-smoking cultures, because it helps them deal with the depression common for newcomers and gives them places like they have at home.
Unlike other immigrants, they can’t go to bars because their religion prohibits them from drinking alcohol.
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Now watch:
The same lefties who acquired a Strange New Respect for prayer in public schools when Muslims insisted on doing it will also acquire a Strange New Respect for smoking.
