Smoking in Canada
In Canada, smoking is allowed and tobacco products are regulated. Under these regulations, cigarettes can be sold, purchased online, used, and bought from vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is permitted with a trade license. Health warnings are required on cigarette packaging, the minimum legal age for sales is 18 years, and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places. Cigarettes are subject to an excise tax value of 54.47% and a total taxation rate of 63.34%. Available data show that smoking remains a significant public health issue in Canada. In 2024, there were approximately 3.5 million current smokers aged 15 years and older. This shows that the adult current smoking prevalence was 10.6% in 2024, with 13.1% among males and 8.1% among females. In comparison, this prevalence was 11.4% in 2022. For reference, the number of daily smokers was approximately 3.5 million in 2017 which shows that the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was 11.6%, with 19.1% among males and 13.4% among females. In 2021, smoking led to 34,171 deaths in Canada, including 20,700 deaths among males and 13,471 among females. This indicates that smoking accounted for 11% of all deaths in 2021 in the country, including 12.8% of male deaths and 9.04% of female deaths.
Read articles from Canada
May 12, 2021 by cbc.ca
A quarter of youth smokers started with vaping, P.E.I. survey finds
A recent survey of P.E.I. youth who have used vaping products found that many of them moved on to smoking tobacco as well.
The survey was released this week by the P.E.I. Lung Association, and was done with funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The Lung Association reached 273 P.E.I. vapers between the ages of 16 and 24 with an Instagram ad. [...] Dr. Mohammed Al-Hamdani, the lead researcher on the project, linked this rate to the addictive nature of the products. Most vapers, 75 per cent, were using products with the highest available nicotine content, 50 to 60 mg/ml.
May 12, 2021 by nowtoronto.com
Vaping dos and don’ts
The CN Tower was lit up in black and yellow to mark Anti-Vaping Awareness Day on May 3.
The campaign, started by a high school student to raise awareness on the potential dangers of liquid vapes and e-cigarettes, is backed by Health Canada and includes sending out info kits to students in schools across the GTA.
The Canadian Vaping Association, the industry lobby representing some 200 retailers, took to social media to criticize the campaign for “confusing smokers,” arguing that tobacco smoke kills 45,000 Canadians every year while vaping “is widely considered as less harmful.”
April 12, 2021 by regulatorwatch.com
Wiped Out | Canadian E-Liquid Manufacturer Talks Nic Caps & Flavour Bans
After experiencing explosive growth and successfully navigating the complexities of a newly enacted regulatory regime, the Canadian vaping industry now faces destruction. [...] Joining us today on RegWatch is Saadiq Daya, the CEO of Canadian e-liquid manufacturer VanGo Vapes. Hear his assessment of Health Canada’s regulatory management and what he fears most about the pending restriction on nicotine levels and potential national flavour ban.
April 08, 2021 by globalnews.ca
Some Saskatchewan vape store owners upset over new 20 per cent tax on products
Vape store owners in the province aren’t thrilled after Saskatchewan introduced a new tax on vape products in its 2021-22 budget Tuesday.
The vapour products tax (VPT) is a 20 per cent tax on the retail price of all vapour liquids, products and devices effective Sept. 1.
As of that date, the province said only retailers with a VDT licence are allowed to sell those products. “It wasn’t a surprise. We kind of expected it to happen based on other provinces implementing a similar tax,” said Mike Smider, Queen City Vapes owner in Regina.
March 30, 2021 by cdhowe.org
Smart Youth Drive Enormous Smoking Declines
Last week, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians in their twenties are butting out at an unprecedented rate. Smoking among them fell from 13.3 percent to a mere 8 percent – a 40-percent drop – between 2019 and 2020 according to the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey.
This is a historic achievement and augurs well for Health Canada’s smoking prevalence target of 5 percent for 2035. Since smoking among those aged 15-19 is currently no more than 5 percent, that cohort has already reached the 2035 target – 14 years before the due date, and the 20-24 group is not far away.
March 19, 2021 by filtermag.org
Canada’s Proposed Nicotine Cap for Vapes Earns Sharp Criticism
Canada looked set to embrace tobacco harm reduction, similar to the United Kingdom. At least until July 2019, when a research paper by a group of high-profile public health scholars in the United States, the UK and Canada appeared in the BMJ [...]
The authors concluded that, in Canada as in the US, there was an increase in youth vaping between 2017 and 2018.
It was the typical tale. However, the researchers also determined that in Canada, unlike in the US, there had also been a significant uptick in youth smoking—lending credence to an often-debunked and challenged theory of a “gateway” from vapes to combustible cigarettes.
March 18, 2021 by radio-canada.ca
Younger, older Canadians differ in how they smoke
The government agency Statistics Canada has found signs that there is a generational difference in nicotine habits among Canadians. Vaping is more popular among the young, while more older people smoke cigarettes.
Vaping is defined as the act of inhaling and exhaling vapour produced by an electronic cigarette, vape mod, vaporizer or vape pen. Some people take up vaping in order to curtail or quit smoking. But the Canadian government’s health departments says vaping can have negative effects. It notes that most products contain nicotine and vaping can lead to nicotine addiction. [...]
March 16, 2021 by leaderpost.com
Opinion: Health Canada's nicotine caps will kill people
If Health Canada has its way, this year vaping will be dealt three knockout blows that will see, not just the end of the business as we know it, but an increase in smoking-related deaths nation-wide. Ottawa is recalibrating the delicate equilibrium between harm reduction and youth use of nicotine. It plans to introduce a mandatory limit on nicotine concentration in e-cigarettes and to ban most flavours. Maximum permissible content is currently at 66 milligrams per millilitre; the new limit will be 20. Eventually, we will see strike three: excise taxes.
March 10, 2021 by vapingpost.com
CVA: E-Cig Laws Must Protect Youth Whilst Fulfilling THR Objectives
In line with data from other Canadian provinces indicating that certain restrictions just led to increased smoking rates, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) is warning that the policy changes recommended by the QCTC would have the same dire effect.
“The QCTC has recommended the following regulatory changes:
Prohibit flavors (except tobacco) in vaping products (however, flavors may be permitted in certified versions and sold as cessation aids in pharmacies)
Limit the nicotine content to 20mg/mL of nicotine [...]
February 22, 2021 by regulatorwatch.com
Nic Caps & Flavour Bans | Canadian Vape Retailer Responds to Recent Turmoil
Which in just the past few years, has been pummeled by the so-called “epidemic” of teen vaping, the so-called “vaping-related lung illness,” and of course the Coronavirus.
Whether it’s COVID lockdowns, flavour bans, or nicotine caps the industry is under withering assault. But yet, it perseveres. However, 2021 could be the most challenging year yet.
Joining us today on RegWatch to talk about those challenges is Robin Gasnier, district manager of Vape Nation an Ontario-based vaping products retail chain.