Anti-tobacco groups say Addictions Minister Saks must resign if she fails to ban flavoured vapes

Three anti-tobacco groups are calling on federal Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks to resign if she fails to pass regulations banning flavoured vaping products.

At a news conference on Friday, the heads of Physicians of a Smoke-Free Canada, the Quebec Coalition of Tobacco Control and ASH Canada said they have been waiting for 14 months for the minister to strengthen controls on the vaping market to protect children.

Draft regulations to remove sweeteners and most flavourings from vaping products were first published in the Canada Gazette in June 2021, but they have not been finalized.

“Instead of speaking out against an industry that lures new customers with increasingly affordable, flavourful and playful devices, the minister has actually met with industry,” said Flory Doucas, co-director for the Quebec Coalition of Tobacco Control.

“If she is unwilling or unable to finalize it in the coming weeks, then we ask that she resign and allow someone else to finish the job.”

The anti-tobacco groups said other plans to regulate designs and packaging, further restrict minors’ access to the products and allow public access to data on the tobacco and vaping industry have been set aside by the federal government.

Nicotine pouches are regulated under the Food and Drugs Act, which falls under the purview of the federal health minister. But vaping products are regulated under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act, overseen by Saks.

Canada’s lobbyist registry shows Saks met on May 23 with representatives of the Canadian Vaping Association and Rights 4 Vapers to discuss the regulations.

Les Hagen, executive director of ASH Canada, said Friday that learning Saks met with vaping lobby groups recently was “very concerning.”

“The regulatory process has been stalled and it was stalled after meetings with the vaping industry,” he said.

“We’ve had weak ministers on this file. We’ve had strong ministers on this file. And if this minister needs some inspiration, she should go talk to her colleague, [Health Minister] Mark Holland,” Hagen said.

The latest Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey says there were 240,100 more vapers in 2022-23 than in 2021-22, and that 86 per cent of them (206,900) were never smokers prior to taking up vaping.

More than half of young people aged 15 to 19 (178,000) and young adults aged 20 to 24 years (282,000) who vaped within a month of responding to the 2022 Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey reported using a fruit flavour most often.

“This problem is out of control, and the main reason they’re smoking vaping products is because of all the flavours,” Hagen said.

Data from Statistics Canada shows that Canadian youths are more likely to vape than members of older generations.

In 2022, Canadians aged 15 to 19 were more than twice as likely to have tried vaping than those aged 25 years and older and nearly half (47.5 per cent) of Canadians aged 20 to 24 had tried vaping.

“This is an addiction not in the same league as drinking coffee. This is an addiction that affects people’s daily lives,” said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.

Flavoured vapes continue to reach provinces with bans

Doucas said that until the federal government bans flavoured vapes across the country, those items will continue to make their way into provinces which prohibit their sale.

So far, six provinces or territories have adopted legislation to ban flavoured vapes: New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

Distributors and manufacturers from other provinces are shipping non-compliant vaping products to Quebec, Doucas said.

“These are companies that the federal government knows about,” she said, adding that Ottawa’s inaction is “harming the provinces that have tried to protect their youth.”

Saks’ office declined an interview with the minister but provided a statement.

“We have also been clear: flavours are going to be restricted. But we need to do this right so that the regulations do not create loopholes that would put our youth further at risk or be hard to enforce,” the statement says.

Sam Tam, president of the Canadian Vaping Association — a lobby group that represents the vaping industry — said it’s important to allow adults the “freedom” to choose flavoured vape products to stop smoking.

“We can’t forget about the adults,” Tam said, adding that if someone who smokes tobacco “all of a sudden tries a mango flavour, there’s no doubt that they would easily transition [from cigarettes] because it’s much more palatable.”

Eric Gagnon, vice-president, corporate and regulatory affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, said in a news release Friday that numerous studies from several countries “highlight the importance of providing basic flavours in smoking cessation products” to help people quit smoking.

“What is currently unfolding with certain advocacy groups exemplifies a profound level of hypocrisy,” he said, accusing those groups of prioritizing attacks on his company and the minister over “the health and well-being of Canadians.”

“It is time to end the fight, do what’s right for Canadians, and work together,” he added.