Question Period Note: Smoking and Tobacco Use in Canada

• Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death, killing approximately 46,000 people in Canada each year. The Government has an ambitious target to reduce tobacco use to less than five percent by 2035.

• Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada.
• Our government is committed to reducing tobacco use in Canada to less than five percent by 2035.
• Health Canada continues to strengthen regulations to prevent youth and people who do not smoke from smoking, and to provide people with information on the health hazards of tobacco use, and supports for quitting smoking.
• Canada recently became the first country to require written health warnings be displayed on individual cigarettes.
IF PRESSED ON HELP FOR PERSONS WHO SMOKE
• Quitting smoking can be difficult. Our Government is committed to providing resources to help.
• Our Government launched the Tools for a Smoke-Free Life campaign, which encourages adults aged 35+ who smoke to learn more about the array of tools and supports that can help them quit smoking.
• People in Canada can also contact the pan-Canadian toll-free quitline where trained specialists can help develop a plan, answer questions, and provide referrals to programs and services in their community, where available. The number and web address for the helpline are displayed on cigarette packs.
IF PRESSED ON YOUTH VAPING

• Protecting the health and safety of youth is a top priority. We are encouraged to see that vaping rates among youth have levelled off since 2021, however, they remain too high.
• We remain concerned about substance use, including youth vaping, and are taking action.
• Regulations prohibit the promotion and advertising of vaping products anywhere they can be seen or heard by youth, set a maximum nicotine concentration for vaping products, and require manufacturers and importers to provide sales and ingredients information to Health Canada.
IF PRESSED ON FLAVOURS REGULATIONS
• In Canada, vaping among youth remains high. Health Canada has identified the availability of various desirable flavours as a major contributing factor to the previously-observed rapid rise in youth vaping.
• On May 16, Health Canada’s Forward Regulatory Plan was updated to include submission of the regulatory package to restrict flavours in vaping products for final publication in Spring 2024.
• Based on our experience with reducing youth use of tobacco, we know that comprehensive measures, such as regulatory action, public education and health promotion, and enhanced compliance and enforcement activities can impact youth uptake and use.
• Health Canada will continue to support individuals seeking to quit smoking through use of use authorized nicotine replacement therapies and cessation medications. Vaping products will continue to be available to adults who smoke.
IF PRESSED ON THE LEGISLATIVE REVIEW
• The first review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act found that the Act appears to be making progress towards achieving its vaping-related objectives.
• It also found more work needs to be done and identified areas for action, such as strengthening compliance and enforcement.
• Public consultations on the second review focused on tobacco, and ended on November 17, 2023. The department is currently analyzing feedback received.
• A final report will be tabled in Parliament in 2024 and will be made available online at that time.
IF PRESSED ON TOBACCO COST RECOVERY
• Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death in Canada.
• That is why we proposed in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement to amend the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act to implement a tobacco cost recovery framework. Amendments proposed in Budget 2024 would enhance the sharing of information about tobacco and vaping products across federal departments, which will support the cost recovery framework.
• This framework will help minimize the cost burden on taxpayers of funding federal tobacco and vaping activities.
• Health Canada will consult broadly on the proposed cost recovery framework before implementation.
IF PRESSED ON TOBACCO LABELLING REGULATIONS
• The Government of Canada is committed to increasing public awareness of the harms of tobacco use.
• To this end, we refreshed warning messages and extended health warnings to all tobacco product packages, to maintain their effectiveness.
• We also require health warnings on individual tobacco products, so it would be impossible to avoid health warnings. This is important for youth, who often get their first cigarette from a friend or sibling, and don’t see the warnings on the pack.
IF PRESSED ON A SMOKE-FREE GENERATION
• The Government of Canada is committed to protecting youth from the dangers of tobacco use. We are pleased to see that smoking rates among Canadian youth are at an all-time low.
• We recently consulted Canadians during the second review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act, which focused on tobacco. We received many suggestions, including a smoke free generation and we are analysing the feedback.
• Canada is a global leader on many fronts in tobacco control, such our warnings on packaging. We engage regularly with international counterparts to learn from each other about new measures taking place.

Canada’s Tobacco Strategy represents the Government of Canada’s plan to address tobacco use. It is led by Health Canada, in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canada Revenue Agency, Indigenous Services Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Safety Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Strategy sets a goal of reducing tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035 (5 by 35).

Data released from the 2022 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) show that smoking rates continue to decline. Decades of tobacco control have seen positive impacts, resulting in a national average rate of 12% (3.8M) down from 15% (4.7M) in 2019. While the recent declines are positive, millions of Canadians are still smoking. Tobacco use is still the leading cause of premature death in Canada, killing half of all Canadians who smoke. Furthermore, prevalence rates among First Nations and Inuit are much higher than that of other Canadians. Reaching the 5 by 35 goal will require continued tobacco control actions both population-wide, and also targeting groups with higher smoking rates.

In March 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released an update of its report entitled “Canadian Substance Use Costs and Harms”. The report found that in 2020 the total cost of tobacco use to society was approximately $11.2 billion, or 22.7% of the total cost of substance use to Canadians. Furthermore, it was responsible for nearly two in three lives lost (46,366 in 2020).

The previous Minister of Mental Health and Addictions’ mandate letter includes a commitment to require tobacco manufacturers to pay for the cost of federal public health investments in tobacco control. This is one of a number of comprehensive measures the Government of Canada is taking to reach 5 by 35.

• Tobacco use is still the leading cause of premature death in Canada, killing half of all individuals who smoke.
• In 2020, the total cost of tobacco use to society was approximately $11.2 billion.
• According to 2022 data, approximately 3.8 million people smoke cigarettes – about 12% of the population in Canada over the age of 12.
• Canada’s Tobacco Strategy is a comprehensive and integrated approach to help Canadians quit tobacco and protect youth and people who do not use tobacco from nicotine addiction, supported by a $330 million investment over five years, starting in May 2018.