Cambridge looks to possibly ban fireworks sales

With Canada Day on the way, conversations have stirred once again around the topic of fireworks, as Cambridge council hears recommendations on how it could change some of its bylaws to better align with other local municipalities in Waterloo Region.

It comes as noise complaints continue to be present in the city amongst some of those major holidays, including Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Diwali; the dates currently allowing for fireworks to be set off from dusk until 11 p.m.

Those recommendations on the potential ban on the sale of fireworks in the city would be a similar step to what’s recently been enacted in Kitchener and Waterloo.

Some councillors, though, including Ward 1 Councillor Helen Shwery, made mention of the potential impacts a move such as that could have on local small business owners.

“Why do you feel that closing down a small business vendor will reduce usage? Because, as we see historically, people don’t stop buying because there’s always something online. Look at Amazon.”

---

Recommendations brought forward to council included:

• Reducing the number of hours that fireworks are permitted
• Prohibiting the sale of fireworks across the city of Cambridge
• Increasing the current and ongoing penalty amounts related to fireworks

---

City staff made sure to quell some of those concerns, stating that it would have less of an overall impact than most would think due to the lower amount of permits being issued for their sale already in 2025.

“We feel that this is not going to have that much of an impact on local businesses, as there are currently only seven licenses issued for fireworks sales within the City of Cambridge,” said Elisabeth Slusarczyk, Manager of Municipal By-Law Compliance with the City of Cambridge.

The recommendation for the potential ban would not include an overall ban on the setting of fireworks, but staff did present information on other areas across the country that had fully instituted a ban, as well as their primary reasoning for doing such.

There were other recommendations brought forward to councillors as well, including an increase in fines and penalties related to fireworks, along with a change in the allotted hours when people can set off fireworks on those listed holidays.

Staff recommended a time of 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., trimming back on the current dusk until 11 p.m. time frame. Some councillors raised concerns with that specific recommendation, though, requesting it be bumped back an hour instead.

“Not sure about the hours of 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Why not 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.?” asked Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett. “Because 11 p.m. is so disruptive to people, and dusk kind of starts around 8 o’clock, so you can still see the fireworks. Why would we not have started it earlier?”

Ultimately, due to the concerns over the time frames in particular, council did not vote on the overall recommendations. It asked city staff to come back with a new report to specify the details and reasoning for the requested times in order to figure out which scenario would work out best.

It means no changes will be made ahead of Canada Day, but council did specify that it would allow changes to be made ahead of Diwali later this year.