Coquitlam residents will be waiting for the air to clear after council banned smoking in public places where kids under 16 could be present.

Smoking tobacco and other substances is now illegal in Coquitlam parks, transit shelters, public meeting places and customer service areas, unless they cater exclusively to customers aged 16 or older.

Those who don't butt out could face fines of up to $10,000.

Coun. Lou Sekora cast the lone vote against the changes, saying the new rules will be impossible to enforce.

"After nine o'clock in the evening, we have no bylaws in this municipality. There are no bylaw enforcement officers. So now you've got to inform the police station and say, 'Would you please send a police officer because there's somebody smoking and I don't like it?' ... This is how silly this thing is getting," Sekora said. "It really, really is a silly bylaw so I can't support it."

However, Mayor Richard Stewart disagreed.

"The vast majority of our residents are law-abiding citizens and will abide by our law," he said. "And the vast majority of our businesses will enforce it to the extent that they can outside their businesses because they don't want to run afoul of the bylaw either."

Nearly three-quarters of voters in the recent byelection indicated through a referendum that they support smoking restrictions, he added.

"If we don't intend to follow the instructions of our electorate, I don't think we should ask their opinions on things," Stewart said. "In this one, we asked their opinion and I think we have to abide by it."

The bylaw changes became effective Monday night.