For most Canadian workers, ten and a half cents on every pay-cheque dollar is deducted as a contribution to our national public pension program. Workers in Quebec contribute to the Quebec Pension Plan, and their contributions are invested by the Caisse de Dépot et placement du Québec (the Caisse). In all other provinces, workers must contribute…
Health Authorities have a tendency to use the first days of January and July as the moment when regulations come into force. And so it is that this week a number of changes to the tobacco and vaping regulations are taking effect. Links to more detailed fact sheets are at the bottom of this post. Federal…
Last week Statistics Canada made available the Public Use Microdata from the Canadian Community Health Survey conducted in 2017 and 2018. The gift of a 1000 variables! The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is the doyen of Statistics Canada’s health surveillance system. For 2 decades, government pollsters have used this survey to find explore the health and…
“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…
Finding the PATH Since 2013, there has been a remarkable survey operating in the United States that has deepened our understanding of tobacco and e-cigarettes use and consequences. It is the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Survey (PATH) – a longitudinal, nationally representative survey of 46000 Americans. This survey generates information on tobacco and e-cigarette use…
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…
Over the past couple of weeks, BAT (owner of Nicoventures and Imperial Tobacco Canada) has launched new promotions in Canada for its vaping products. This campaign is part of a global re-branding initiative the company shared with investors in March. This campaign can be seen as a test run of the federal government’s plans for…
How much do tobacco companies make in Canada? Answering that question became more difficult about a decade ago, after all three of the traditional tobacco companies (BAT-Imperial Tobacco Canada, PMI-Rothmans, Benson and Hedges, and JTI-Macdonald) became fully-owned subsidiaries of multinationals and the fourth (Grand River Enterprises) remained a privately held operation. Over the past year,…
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…
Last week viewers of the American College of Cardiology’s virtual annual scientific session were able to see the initial results of the first large Canadian randomized clinical trial of e-cigarettes as a cessation device. Thanks to the ACC’s sharing of this event and Youtube technology, a 6-minute synopsis of his presentation is available to all. In…