Canadian smoking ban ‘being looked into’: health minister

A man holds a lit cigarette while smoking in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.

OTTAWA — The federal health minister says she is looking into legislation that would permanently ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2008.

Speaking on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Majorie Michel was asked if Canada would consider legislation similar to the United Kingdom’s recently proposed bill that aims to reduce the use of cigarettes and vapes for young people.

“I am looking into it right now,” she told reporters. “We saw what the U.K. did, but I am looking into it with all partners for now.”

Last week, both houses of the U.K. Parliament passed what’s being called the “Tobacco and Vapes Bill,” aimed to stop anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009, now aged 17, from taking up smoking. The bill still requires royal assent.

Asked whether Health Canada has been tasked with looking into a U.K.-style ban, a spokesperson for the department said they had nothing to add to a statement issued to CTV News last week.

On April 22, Health Canada told CTV News the Government of Canada has invested $66 million annually since 2018 to help Canadians quit smoking and reduce the harms of nicotine addiction. The department did not specifically say whether it was, or had ever, seriously considered a lifetime ban for people aged 17 and younger.

“The Government of Canada works collaboratively with partners and key stakeholders to protect Canadians, especially youth, from the harms of smoking using the best available data and evidence,” said Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for Health Canada.

Canada has set a goal of reducing tobacco use to less than five per cent by 2035. The 2024 Canadian Community Health Survey estimates 11 per cent of Canadians aged 18 years and over reported smoking.

When it comes to vaping, data from Statistics Canada suggests one in 10 Canadians aged 20 to 24, and one in 50 aged 25 and older, use a vape every day.

A study posted on the Government of Canada’s website that aimed to assess the potential impacts of a “smoke-free generation,” or SFG, with a perpetual ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after 2009 found that after 50 years, the policy would lead to $2.3 billion less in health-care costs.

The policy, the report said, would also lead to nearly 480,000 more quality-adjusted life years, a metric used in economics to quantify the benefit of medical treatments.

“The implementation of an SFG policy will bring substantive health benefits to the population in Canada. Although health-care cost savings are lower than the combination of lost tax revenues and the decline in the GDP from the Canadian tobacco industry, the value of the health benefits realized outweigh the negative offsets,” the report found.

Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters Tuesday that he has not talked to the health minister about any sort of ban on tobacco products for young people.

“I think obviously doing whatever we can to reduce the consumption of tobacco products amongst young people is extremely important,” Fraser said.

Fraser said he expected to talk with Michel, his seatmate in the House of Commons, later on Tuesday.

“I’ve got a personal opinion on it, but have not been engaged formally in the policy development process,” Fraser added.