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The new year is a common date for governments to peg for implementing regulations or new rules. This year is no exception, with new tobacco control provisions kicking in this week. Other regular New Year’s changes will be price increases set by tobacco companies. This post reviews these events — with related and updated fact...
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In Canada, tobacco control is an area of shared jurisdiction: both federal and provincial governments have wide authority to regulate the manufacture, promotion, distribution and sale of tobacco products. Although Canada’s constitution generally gives provinces control over commercial activities, the Supreme Court long ago recognized the authority of the federal government to also regulate cigarette promotions and...
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Earlier this month, Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of Enviornment and Climate Change Canada announced Canada’s plans to achieve zero plastic waste within the next decade. Included in this plan was a ban on 6 categories of single-use plastic items: plastic checkout bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery, and food ware made from hard-to-recycle plastics. While the...
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The federal government has set the goal of reducing smoking rates in Canada to less than 5% by 2035. But are we on track to getting there? And are there economic benefits to governments and citizens if we do? This summer, the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada commissioned Dr....
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Earlier this summer, Statistics Canada released data files for the 2017-2018 Canadian Community Health Survey. This post is one of an occasional series which reviews this data for information on smoking patterns in Canada. Today’s post is the first to look at the relationship between income and smoking behaviour. Inequities in income and smoking behaviour...
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Three months ago, Statistics Canada released some results from the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS) This is a one-time survey conducted between the end of October and mid-December in 2019. The survey was taken by 8,600 Canadians, fewer than half of those who were asked to do so (a response rate of 44%). Statistics Canada...
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“Menthol use is likely associated with increased smoking initiation by youth and young adults. Further, the data indicate that menthol in cigarettes is likely associated with greater addiction. Menthol smokers show greater signs of nicotine dependence and are less likely to successfully quit smoking. These findings, combined with the evidence indicating that menthol’s cooling and...
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While the world and public health systems have been gripped with managing COVID-19, a number of regulatory changes have nonetheless been put in place with respect to vaping products. This post provides an update on some noteworthy Canadian policy decisions in 2020. Dialing down the nicotine: Last Tuesday, Nova Scotia adopted regulations “to add restrictions respecting nicotine potency...
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E-cigarette taxes: A global snapshot Earlier this month, we reported on taxes on cigarettes in Canada, and also on heat-not-burn tobacco sticks.* This post reviews Canadian tax measures on e-cigarettes (vaping products), and compares with those in other jurisdictions. Vaping taxes in Canada: Currently, the federal government does not impose taxes on e-cigarettes, other than the GST...
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It’s no April Fools. Federal taxes were increased on cigarettes today — from $28.43 per carton of cigarettes to $28.85, or $0.042 per package of 20 cigarettes. This increase was not the result of a budgetary decision this year, but because of an automatic quinquennial inflation adjustment introduced in the 2014 budget, and annualized in the 2018 budget. If...
