The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) registered to lobby in Alberta about a bill proposing a ban on single-use flavoured liquids in an attempt to reduce youth vaping rates.

Bill 208, the Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Amendment Act, was sent to committee on April 20.

The CVA is strongly opposed. The May 4 lobbying registration says the objective of the group’s lobbying “is that bill 208 does not pass.”

The federal government proposed to restrict the sale of flavoured vaping liquid nationwide five years ago, but to date no law has been passed. There are no active federal bills on the issue, though Health Minister Marjorie Michel said earlier this month she is “willing to move in that direction.”

Representatives for CVA have reported 14 lobbying communications targeting 29 federal officials since March 13 to seek “assurances the federal government will not implement a flavour ban on the regulated Canadian vaping industry.”

A Health Canada survey published in 2024 found that 14 per cent of youth aged 15 to 19 years old had reported vaping in the last month, compared to four per cent of Canadians 25 or older.

Canadians 15 and older in B.C., which has restrictions on flavours, reported the lowest vaping rates, while rates were highest in Manitoba, which has no ban, according to the same survey. More than half reported using a fruit flavour most often.

Proponents of bans argue flavours like mango, blue raspberry and strawberry ice cream are designed to appeal to children and teens, and restricting flavours would limit their appeal for young people.

The CVA, however, has argued for years that flavour bans are ineffective at reducing youth vaping, suggesting bans will simply push young people toward the illicit market and jeopardize harm reduction for adults who are vaping as a way to quit smoking cigarettes.

Daniel David, a CVA director, agreed in an interview that youth vaping is a problem, but he said rates have already been declining in Alberta without a flavour ban.

“Flavours are absolutely necessary for vaping products. If you take them away, you kill the legal industry,” David said.

And if governments ban flavours “at scale, as with a federal ban … you just introduce the Wild West of the illicit market.”

Nonetheless, nine provinces and territories have moved to limit the sales of flavoured tobacco products since 2019.

In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Quebec, sales of any vaping liquids in flavours other than tobacco are not allowed.

B.C., Ontario and Saskatchewan have restricted sales of vaping flavours to specialty stores. The sale of flavoured vapes is banned in general stores that could be accessed by minors.

The new Alberta bill is an update to the Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act, which took effect in 2021. That law made it illegal for youth under 18 to buy vapes, and restricted the sale of vaping products to the same places cigarettes are sold.

More Briefs

Canada has been eyeing increased uranium exports to Europe for over a year

Who asked for pesticide policy changes included in the Liberal fiscal update law?

SeatGeek lobbying Alberta on ticket reselling laws

Meta is hiring public policy managers in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa