Government of Canada seeks input to further reduce tobacco use

Press Release

The second review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act seeks to assess the federal legislative response to tobacco use in Canada

September 7, 2023

The Government of Canada is committed to reducing the number of people in Canada who smoke cigarettes and use other tobacco products to less than 5% of the population by 2035. Today, public consultations are being launched to inform the second legislative review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA).

This review of the Act’s tobacco-related provisions and operation will help to better understand how these measures can further reduce smoking in Canada. It complements the first review which focused on vaping and was tabled in Parliament in December 2022.

The review is guided in part by a discussion paper that examines the following topics:

tobacco use in Canada;
addressing enticements to use tobacco;
monitoring the tobacco market;
youth access to tobacco;
public awareness of tobacco-related health risks;
compliance, enforcement, and regulated parties; and
engaging with Indigenous Peoples.

The Government of Canada is hoping to hear from a wide range of voices including health professionals, public health advocates, Indigenous peoples and people who smoke or have smoked to help inform the second legislative review of the Act.

The Government of Canada is working to address findings from the first legislative review of the TVPA, including by recently introducing Vaping Products Reporting Regulations that will help improve our understanding of the vaping product market. Together, the information gathered through these reviews will help establish a baseline assessment of the Act and further track progress towards reducing tobacco use in Canada.

Feedback on the TVPA’s tobacco-related measures can be submitted by emailing legislativereviewtvpa.revisionlegislativeltpv@hc-sc.gc.ca until November 3, 2023.

Quotes

“More than 46,000 people in Canada die because of tobacco use every year; one Canadian every 11 minutes. These are our friends, family members, and neighbours. Despite a decline in smoking numbers, we still have work to do, and we must do everything we can towards making Canada smoke-free. By sharing your feedback on our approach, you will help us save lives. I look forward to hearing from you.”

The Honourable Ya’ara Saks
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health

“Strong legislation is a key part of Canada’s Tobacco Strategy and invaluable to meeting our target of less than 5% tobacco use in Canada by 2035. By reviewing tobacco-related rules and regulations, we’re able to make sure that we’re staying on the right track. This is also a great opportunity to hear from Canadians about how we can build on our successes and our history of taking bold steps to protect Canadians from the harms of smoking, like banning tobacco advertising, requiring pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages, and most recently requiring that health warnings be printed directly on individual cigarettes. Let’s continue to work together as we set our sights to 2035.”

The Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health

Quick facts

Protecting the health of Canadians from tobacco-related death and disease continues to be a priority for the Government of Canada.
The Tobacco Act was amended in May 2018 to become the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA). The TVPA, along with other pieces of legislation, created a new legal framework for regulating vaping products. As such, the TVPA includes a set of objectives related to tobacco and another related to vaping.
The TVPA includes a requirement for a legislative review three years after coming-into-force, and every two years thereafter. Periodic reviews provide a means to examine and respond to tobacco and/or vaping related issues that may emerge over time.
The report on the first legislative review of the TVPA was tabled in Parliament in December 2022. It focused on the vaping-related provisions of the TVPA.
Canada’s Tobacco Strategy (CTS) is the federal strategy to address tobacco use in Canada and is designed to help achieve the target of less than 5% tobacco use by 2035. The TVPA is a key tool used to advance CTS and protect Canadians from tobacco-related death and disease.
The TVPA seeks to protect people in Canada from tobacco-related death and disease by regulating the manufacture, sale, promotion and labelling of tobacco products in Canada. While tobacco use has decreased over the years, 12% of people in Canada smoke today – indicating that there is still work to do.
Information to help Canadians quit smoking is available at Canada.ca/quitsmoking.

Associated links

Contacts

Zachary Caldwell
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Ya’ara Saks
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
and Associate Minister of Health
343-552-5568

Alexandra Maheux
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health
343-575-0890

Media Relations
Health Canada
613-957-2983
media@hc-sc.gc.ca

Public Inquiries
613-957-2991
1-866-225-0709

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