Behind the push to make smoking and vaping illegal for a generation of Canadians

OTTAWA — It’s illegal for kids under 18 to buy tobacco products in Canada and there’s a movement afoot to make sure today’s youth are never allowed to light up a cigarette — even after they come of age. A law that will take effect in the United Kingdom in January will prohibit anyone born after 2008 from ever legally buying cigarettes. In Canada, lobbyists are pushing the federal government to go even further by banning smoking and vaping products for the next generation entirely.

Sarah Sleet, CEO of Asthma + Lung U.K., said there has been broad public support for the move in Britain but it took decades of lobbying and advocacy. “If you survey smokers, they do not want their children to be smoking. They know what a terrible thing it is, they know how bad it is for their health, they know how expensive it is,” she said.

The law also had cross-partisan support. It was proposed by a Conservative government in 2023 and eventually passed under the current Labour government. The proposed bill initially included vaping products, but the final version is limited to smoking.

The Lung Health Foundation in Canada wants to bring vaping into the conversation. “Kids who vape are 3 1/2 times more likely to smoke tobacco in the future,” said Jessica Buckley, president and CEO of the foundation. Sleet said some in the United Kingdom were concerned about the law limiting access to vaping products that are used to help people stop smoking.

The law did bring in stronger rules on the sale of vapes, including plain packaging and a requirement that stores keep the products behind screens. The British law didn’t come without pushback from the tobacco industry. Eric Gagnon, vice-president of regulatory affairs for Imperial Tobacco Canada, said while he shares the goal of keeping cigarettes and vapes out of the hands of youth, the tobacco industry does not support a prohibition on smoking, however gradual.

He pointed out that Canada has gone in the opposite direction with cannabis by legalizing and regulating the product, despite research showing smoking and vaping cannabis is harmful. He also warned that a ban would feed the black market. “Canada already has a huge illicit market, not only on cigarettes but on nicotine pouches, on vaping products,” Gagnon said.