The Government of Ontario, Canada, has decided to delay the implementation of changes to the Smoke Free Ontario Act while it examines vaping issues that the proposed changes had raised, according to a story by Antonella Artuso for the Toronto Sun.
The changes were to have come into effect on July 1.
“The government will work with the public, experts and businesses to re-examine the evidence related to vaping as a smoking cessation tool to ensure that any changes are in the best interests of everyone and protect Ontarians’ health and safety,” Simon Jefferies, a spokesman for the recently-elected Premier, Doug Ford, was quoted as having said in an email to the Sun.
“The current provisions in the Smoke Free Ontario Act and the Electronic Cigarettes Act remain in effect and will continue to be enforced.”
Artuso explained that the previous provincial Liberal Government, under former-premier Kathleen Wynne, had planned to replace the Smoke-Free Ontario Act and Electronic Cigarettes Act with a single new version of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act covering both tobacco and vaping.
The new legislation would have banned vaping everywhere smoking is disallowed, and expanded the prohibition zone to outdoor restaurants, bar patios, and around schools or children and youth recreational facilities.
The same strict rules for selling tobacco would have applied to vaping products.
Vapor Advocates of Ontario issued a statement praising the Government’s actions.
And Shaun Casey, president of the Canadian Vaping Association, was quoted as saying the provincial regulations needed to align with Health Canada’s stance on vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking to ensure the industry was clear on the legal expectations from both levels of governments.
Tag: Canada
Looking again at vaping
Vaping out of the shadows
The Canadian federal government’s new Tobacco and Vaping Products Act will force tobacco companies to use standardized packaging, but it also opens a world of advertising possibilities for e-liquids and e-cigarettes, according to a story by Jackie Sharkey for CBS News.
The new law, which received royal assent last week, legalized and regulated what had been a “bold, black market,” said David Hammond, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s chair in applied health and professor at the University of Waterloo.
Though technically illicit, the story said, nicotine e-liquid was available at vape shops and other stores in most cities across the country, though most big international companies had stayed out of the market.
But with legalization, Hammond predicts Canadians will see big multi-national companies move into the marketplace, along with their advertisements.
“For the first time in decades, you could see TV or front-page newspaper ads for recreational nicotine products,” he said.
Hammond, who testified before Parliament while the law was being drafted, said advertising was the most contentious part of the new Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.
In fact, the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is recommending stronger regulations for the advertising components of the act, something Health Canada is considering through consultations.
There is a lot at stake.
“[Companies] will not be able to make a health claim immediately, but Health Canada is working on regulations to that effect,” said Rob Cunningham, senior policy advisor for the CCS.Expanding cannabis
Alliance One International said yesterday that its indirect subsidiary, Canada’s Island Garden (CIG), would undergo a ‘significant expansion’ to support the growth of its Canadian cannabis line.
The expansion, involving the construction of state-of-the-art plant, would increase CIG’s production capacity of medicinal cannabis, Alliance said. And it would increase production capacity for recreational cannabis as and when sales for the recreational market were legalized.
‘Phase 1 of the expansion, which includes a 166,000-square-foot greenhouse and 54,000-square-foot warehouse, is a $27 million (C$35M) investment,’ it said. ‘The warehouse is being constructed to also accommodate Phase 2 of the expansion, which would add an additional 90,000 square feet of greenhouse space.
‘Phase 1 will increase the facility’s annual production capacity from 1,200 kg to 18,000 kg and is expected to be complete in spring 2019. ‘Assuming completion of Phase 2, Canada’s Island Garden would have a total annual production capacity in excess of 35,000 kg.
‘Both the Phase 1 and Phase 2 expansions are designed to feature the latest technological advancements in horticulture and cannabis production to allow for the production of a premium-quality and sustainable product for consumers in Canada, optimized to create comprehensive transparency and traceability, from plant to final product, while also including security protections to maintain proper control of the facility.’
Meanwhile, Alliance said that CIG had unveiled a new ‘FIGR’ brand, which reflected ‘the scientific rigor and decades of agronomic excellence for which it is known’.
‘Since the acquisition of 75 percent of Canada’s Island Garden by Canadian Cultivated Products, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Alliance One, the Canadian companies have been working on a new naming and branding concept. Canadian Cultivated Products will be rebranded to FIGR Cannabis, Canada’s Island Garden to FIGR East and Goldleaf Pharm, a sister company in Simcoe, Ontario, to FIGR Norfolk.
‘FIGR products are intended become available to the public in Canada as soon as sales in the recreational adult market are legalized. Sales to medical patients in Canada will remain under the current branding of Canada’s Island Garden.’Vaping in the dark
Adults in Canada will soon have easier access to electronic cigarettes and vaping supplies — and be exposed to more advertisements promoting them — now that the federal Liberal government has passed legislation formally legalizing and regulating the practice of vaping, according to a Canadian Press story.
Once the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act receives royal assent in the coming days, it will prohibit the sale of vape products to minors, ban flavors aimed at young people and prohibit marketing that features testimonials, health claims or lifestyle themes.
At the same time, it will allow the legal manufacture, import and sale of vaping products both with and without nicotine, Health Canada said yesterday.
Other provisions will come into force 180 days after the bill becomes law to give manufacturers and importers time to comply.
Manufacturers that want to market their products with therapeutic claims, such as for smoking cessation, will still require Health Canada’s blessing before their products can be imported, advertised or sold in Canada.
Some experts welcomed the vaping regulations, saying they give legitimacy to something that could prove a boon for smokers who are trying to quit. Others fear the restrictions could keep those very same people from exploring vaping’s potential as a less-harmful alternative to smoking.
Where they agree, however, is that Canada continues to lack sufficient research into vaping and its potential effects.
The law essentially treated vaping like smoking, with similar regulations, said David Sweanor, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics.
It prevented companies that made non-combustible products from informing smokers about significantly less hazardous options, and failed adequately to distinguish between the risks of using combustible cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other alternatives.
But Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Laurent Marcoux welcomed the legislation for its restrictions on promoting and advertising vape products, and said it was still too soon to embrace vaping as a potential stop-smoking aidAnti-tobacco groups closing
Two award-winning non-profit groups that have led the fight against tobacco in Canada are preparing to close their doors after the money they had expected to receive as part of the most recent federal budget failed to materialize, according to a story by Gloria Galloway for the Globe and Mail.
Galloway reported that the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association (NSRA) and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC) had been limping along on a combination of savings, provincial help, and the work of volunteers since their federal funding was cut by the former Conservative government in 2012.
Health experts and organizations across Canada had expected that the Liberal government’s promise to renew the federal Tobacco Control Strategy, which expired on March 31, would include support for the two organizations.
Instead, the government has said the $11-million that was committed to the strategy this year and the $16-million promised for next year will be used to stop the influx of contraband tobacco and to pay for unspecified ‘targeted actions’ to help Canadians quit smoking.
The full story is at: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-two-leading-canadian-anti-tobacco-groups-to-shut-down-after-ottawa/Tax up, revenue down
An EY (Ernst & Young) review of tobacco tax policy in Ontario, Canada, has shown tax rate increases are reducing revenue for the province as consumers turn to a growing contraband market.
In a press note EY said the provincial government had introduced a $3-per-carton price-increase in February 2016, followed by an additional $2-per-carton increase in April 2017, and had foreshadowed further $4-per-carton increases in both 2018 and 2019.
‘Tax revenue for the province, meanwhile, has fallen short of expectations by $240 million over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017,’ EY said.
‘Research shows that continued tax rate increases are widening the price gap between legal and contraband tobacco. Legal cigarette prices have increased by 15 percent since Q4 2014. What was then a $54 per carton price gap grew to $66 per carton in Q3 2017.
‘EY research suggests that additional planned tobacco tax increases by the government of Ontario will drive that price gap to $78 per carton by the end of 2019. This could divert more legal taxed consumption into the untaxed contraband market instead. Data suggests legal demand will fall by almost 11 percent in 2018 and an additional seven percent in 2019.
‘Contraband tobacco already represents more than one third (33.8 percent) of the total market in Ontario. What’s more, Ontario accounts for over 80 percent of the total tobacco contraband market in Canada. This translates into $750 million in lost provincial revenue, or “tax gap,” per annum.’
The EY report suggests that with recent federal and Ontario tobacco tax increases, the province could see revenues fall short of its forecasts by $235m per year in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Based on these figures, the report recommends the provincial government consider alternative taxation plans and enforcement measures to mitigate the flow of revenue to the contraband market.Pouring gas on the fire
Tobacco tax hikes announced in this week’s federal budget will deal a severe financial blow to Canadian convenience-store owners by fueling demand for cheaper illicit cigarettes, according to the Ontario Korean Businessmen’s Association (OKBA), the largest organization of independent convenience stores in the province.
The OKBA said the 2018 federal budget had announced an additional $1 in tax per carton of cigarettes, and an inflation adjustment that added another $1.29 in tax per carton.
The increases announced in this week’s budget had come just before the Ontario government was planning to introduce another $4 per carton tax hike as part of its upcoming provincial budget.
“This federal tax hike, combined with the recent provincial increase will raise a carton price by $6.29,” said Don Cha, general manager of the OKBA. “This will undoubtedly drive more convenience-store owners out of business and drive more smokers into the black market of contraband tobacco.
“Already governments lose more than $1 billion in tobacco taxes when consumers buy their products from the black market. These tax increases will cause them to lose even more money that could be put to good use.”
A study conducted late last year on behalf of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) revealed that nearly 40 percent of all tobacco products consumed in Ontario was illicit. According to the study, illicit cigarettes now account for 37.2 percent of all cigarettes smoked in the province. The study showed also that the level of contraband tobacco in Ontario had been rising at an ‘alarming’ rate during the past three years.
“The budget speech this week said that tobacco taxation is known to be one of the most effective ways to keep tobacco products out of the hands of young people,” said Cha. “But that’s simply not true. The reality is that repeated government tax hikes mean the price gap between legal tobacco and contraband tobacco continues to grow larger and larger, and that makes illegal cigarettes financially more available, especially to lower-income residents and minors.”
Cha said that it was hypocritical of the government to avoid overly expensive pricing for marijuana in order to prevent the growth of illegal sales. In speaking about the sale of licit marijuana recently, the prime minister had pointed out that if prices of licit and contraband marijuana were even, people would choose to buy licit products. The same standard should apply to tobacco as well, Cha added.Imperial Tobacco gagged
Imperial Tobacco Canada has called a press conference to air its views on various tobacco acts – views that it says it has been prevented from airing before members of a House Standing Committee.
The press conference is due to start today at 11.00 local time, and to be held in the Charles Lynch Room, Parliament Hill.
In a press note, Imperial said it would present at the meeting the content of the message it had hoped to deliver to members of the House Standing Committee of Health during their study of Bill S-5 – An Act to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-Smokers’ Health Act, and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.
This had become necessary following the Liberal government’s refusal to allow Imperial to publicly express its opinion and answer questions from members of parliament during Health Canada’s Standing Committee public hearings on Bill S-5, which is due to end today.
Also at the press conference, Eric Gagnon, head of corporate and regulatory affairs is due to highlight the inconsistencies in the government’s approaches to the tobacco industry and the marijuana industry.Canada in dialogue
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) is due to stage a free-to-attend, tobacco-harm-reduction dialogue in Vancouver, Canada, in April.
The dialogue, Tobacco harm reduction: different strokes for different folks, or a consistent approach?, is to be held in partnership with the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
It will be held from 09.00 to 16.30 on April 9, at the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver.
‘The huge growth in the availability of safer nicotine products, with new technologies, such as vaping and heat not burn, as well as oral tobacco products, such as snus, has created greater opportunities for smokers to switch from a proven dangerous and unhealthy way to consume nicotine to much safer methods, according to a press note from the GFN, which has previously run series of dialogues in the UK and Ireland.
‘The emerging science surrounding both the technology and the products is positive and encouraging.
‘Vancouver has a proud tradition for supporting harm reduction for illicit drug use, including pioneering supervised consumption rooms for injecting drug use. The principles of harm reduction are well understood and have been enacted for many years with positive results.’
Participants will be addressed by international and local presenters, including:- Dr. Mark Tyndall, executive medical director, BC Centre for Disease Control;
- Professor Marjorie MacDonald, School of Nursing, University of Victoria;
- Professor Gerry Stimson, professor emeritus, Imperial College, London;
- Jacques Le Houezec, independent consultant in public health and tobacco dependence, France;
The presenters are due to examine:
- The history of harm reduction in Vancouver, the lessons learnt and the implications for this approach in relation to tobacco and smoking.
- Tobacco harm reduction as the ‘new kid on the block’ and what the emerging evidence is telling us.
- What does regulation look like and what are the elements that make for appropriate and effective regulation?
- The consumer experience – what products do people use and what are the results for them?
- What are the key issues for policy-makers and how can we ensure buy-in from all stakeholders?
Attendance at the dialogues is free, but participants are required to register at: https://gfn.net.co/dialogues/register.
More details about the dialogue are at: https://gfn.net.co/dialogues/vancouver-2018.Grants-offer spurned
Seventeen public health schools in the US and Canada yesterday pledged to refuse research money from the New York-based Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), according to a story by Collin Binkley for WHSV Online relayed by the TMA.
Presumably they have pledged not to apply for such grants.
FSFW was launched in September with a $1 billion grant from Philip Morris International.
The foundation has yet to issue any funding but it has received proposals that are currently under review.
“The idea of taking money that’s from the tobacco industry is just antithetical to everything we do,” said Karen Emmons, dean for academic affairs at Harvard’s public health school.
A letter signed by the 17 college deans said both the tobacco industry and PMI had a long history of funding research in ways meant purposely to confuse the public and advance their own interests.
The foundation has said it will pay for research that helps smokers quit, helps tobacco farmers find other livelihoods and develops reduced-risk alternatives to traditional cigarettes.
Derek Yach, chief of the FSFW and a former executive of the World Health Organization (pictured), said that the foundation was “fully insulated” from industry influence.
