Question Period Note: Smoking and Tobacco Use in Canada

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death in this country, killing approximately 46,000 Canadians 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 introduce written health warnings 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 recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of quit smoking supports. Over four million dollars is also provided to partners to support the Smoke-Free Curious campaign.
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 for the helpline is 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 THE LEGISLATIVE REVIEW…
The first review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act was tabled in Parliament on December 9th, 2022.
The review found that the Act appears to be making progress towards protecting youth and 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, which is focused on tobacco, ended November 17, 2023. The department is analyzing feedback received.
IF PRESSED ON TOBACCO COST RECOVERY…
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of illness and premature death in Canada.
That is why we are proposing in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement to amend the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act to implement a tobacco 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 introduced 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 prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after a certain year.
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 to learn about new measures taking place.

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Tobacco use is still the leading cause of premature death in Canada, killing half of all Canadians 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 Canadians smoke cigarettes – about 12% of the population 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.