New data on how Canadian smokers try (and fail) to quit smoking

What quitting methods are Canadian smokers trying?  And how successful are they?  

Statistics Canada has provided new data to help answer these questions. The 2023 and 2024 waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) included questions on the quit methods recently used by smokers. 

These results have not yet been published on government web-sites, but they can be found in aggregate form in the Data Dictionaries which Statistics Canada makes available. These can be downloaded here: CCHS 2023 and CCHS 2024, with the data assembled on a fact sheet. More information about the CCHS can be found below and elsewhere. 

The survey results indicate that:

• One-half of Canadian smokers have made an unsuccessful quit attempt in the past year 
• Two-thirds of those who try to quit do so without using any cessation aids or methods 
• The vast majority of quit attempts are unsuccessful (85%)
• Failure rates are essentially the same for most popular products and methods (going it alone, NRT, vaping products). Cutting down may be associated with greater chance of failure. 
• Only a small number of smokers use the nicotine pouch or internet programs in their quit attempts, and the survey found few or no individuals who had done so successfully.

One-half of Canadian smokers have made an unsuccessful quit attempt in the past year. 

Each person who said they had smoked in the last month was asked  "In the past 12 months, did you stop smoking for at least 24 hours because you were trying to cut back or quit?" 

Of the estimated 3.6 million Canadian smokers in 2023, 1.8 million had made a failed quit attempt in the previous 12 months (51%). Of the estimated 3.6 million smokers last year, 1.8 million had unsuccessfully tried to quit at least once (54%). This question was asked of all people people who said they had smoked in the past month, including those who had not yet smoked 100 cigarettes and who are usually not included in estimates of smoking prevalence. (Variable CSS_41)  

As evidenced by the fact that this question was only asked of people who were smoking at the time of the interview, these attempts were unsuccessful.

Successful quit attempts were identified elsewhere in the survey (Variables SPU_10 and SPU_25). Those who were identified as having smoked in the past were asked how long ago they had quit. An estimated 429,500 had quit smoking in the past 12 months in 2023 and 414,500 in 2024.  Included in these results are people who smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes before they quit.

Most quit attempts (63%) are made without any aids or methods

The CCHS asked about the stop smoking methods used both by smokers who had tried and failed to quit and those who had stopped smoking in the past 12 months. (Variables SPU_40 and SPU_45)

Eight potential quitting methods were identified in 2023. These were: (a) nicotine replacement products, (b) smoking cessation medications, (c) internet-based programs or apps, (d) vaping devices or e-cigarettes, (e) making a deal with a friend or your family, (f) reducing the number of cigarettes, (g) trying to quit smoking on your own, or (h) an ‘other’ method. People could identify the use of more than one method. An additional method (tobacco-free nicotine pouches) was added to the questionnaire in 2024. These nicotine products were authorized for sale in Canada in the summer of 2023, and were widely available throughout 2024. 

The yearly average of these responses is shown below (results for each survey year are provided in the downloadable data sheet).

Two-in-three Canadians (63%) report that they tried to quit smoking on their own, and almost half of smokers (45%) said they used the self-help method of cutting down.

The most commonly used commercial stop smoking aids (NRT or vaping products) were used by one-third of those making a past-year quit attempts. Smoking cessation medications and "other" unspecified methods were used by one-tenth of such respondents, and other products and services (pouches and internet apps) were used by one-twentieth.

No matter the method or product, the vast majority of quit attempts fail. 

This survey is not designed to assess whether a quit attempt has been successful, and the results cannot be converted into a measure of quitting success. The survey does allow for an estimate of the minimum failure rate of quit attempts.

Modern clinical trials of stop smoking methods do not generally rely solely on self-reported behaviour, and confirm smoking status with physical or biological tests and use standard time periods to measure quitting success, such as 3- or 6-month abstinence. The CCHS do not provide such measures, and those who identify as recently-quit former smokers would include individuals with varying lengths of abstinence. Some could have had their last cigarette only a few days prior to the interview, and others might have quit smoking up to 12 months earlier.

The CCHS can be used to provide estimates of unsuccessful quit attempts Those who say that they have tried to quit in the past year but also say they are smoking at the time they are interviewed have tautologically failed, no matter how long their quit attempt lasted, although some may have been abstinent for longer than the 6 months often used in clinical trials.

The above chart uses "failure rate" to mean the proportion of smokers who have made a quit attempt in the past 12 months and who say they are still smoking when interviewed. Overall, quit attempts using any of the methods failed 8 times out of 10, with failure rates ranging from 79% to 96%.

Vaping products yield little or no improvement over traditional methods (but carry higher risks)

From this population survey, smokers who use e-cigarettes are little or  no more successful than those who used no cessation aid or who used conventional NRT: The aggregate failure rate for these three methods differ by only a percentage point

More than four in five quit attempts using a vaping product did not lead to success. Further analysis of this data (by those with access to the Master Files) could assess whether those failed efforts are associated with the increased risk of dual use, and whether those who succeeded are exposed to the risks of long-term vaping

These results do not suggest cutting down on the number of cigarettes is effective as a quit method.

Almost one half (45%) of past-year quit attempts involved reducing the number of cigarettes smoked. Cutting down is a method still promoted by the Ontario government, Health Canada and others.

These survey results suggest that reducing to quit may be associated with a greater risk of failure. Those who reported a quit attempt using this strategy failed almost all the time (96%). Access to the Master File or PUMF file is needed to establish whether these differences are statistically significant and how the use of more than one quit method affects the results. 

Because these quit methods are not randomly assigned, the self-selection of methods is a consideration (i.e. those who reduce to quit may be inherently more challenged in quitting). 

Very few Canadians used nicotine pouches - and too few succeeded with this method to provide a statistically reliable estimate.

One brand of tobacco-free nicotine pouches (Zonnic) was approved for sale in the summer of 2023 and by January 2024 this brand was widely available across Canada, although sales were limited to pharmacies by late summer 2024. The CCSH began including questions on tobacco-free these products in 2024, with the question phrased in a way that would include the use of authorized and unauthorized pouches. 

The survey estimates that 107,500 smokers used a nicotine pouch in a failed quit attempt. However, when they asked the same question of Canadians whose quitting attempts had not failed, they were unable to find more than 25 individuals who had used these products.

These results suggest that quitting attempts do not explain the size of the nicotine pouch market in Canada, and that unintended use is very high. There are no official reports of legal sales, but Imperial Tobacco identifies that these products are sold in 9,000+ pharmacies across Canada. That company also claims that in addition to the (unstated) volume of its legally-sold pouches, "500 million illegal pouches were sold" in Canada last year. 

The Canadian Community Health Survey 

The Canadian Community Health Survey is Statistics Canada’s largest national survey collecting information related to health status. The survey began in 2001 and has been conducted annually since 2007. In 2023 and 2024 the survey was restricted to individuals 18 years of age or over. The number of respondents in each of those years was 51,600 and 48,300, respectively. More information on the survey can be found here.

Statistics Canada publishes some results from the survey in a number of tables. Examples include Health indicators by visible minority and selected sociodemographic characteristics; Health characteristics, two-year period estimates. The survey estimates that there were 3.56 million Canadians over the age of 18 who had smoked at least once in the past month in 2023 and 3.61 million in 2024.

The Data Dictionaries provide aggregated results, and do not reveal differences by age, sex, income, mental health or other important determinants of smoking behaviour. Nor do they allow for statistical tests to compare associations. Such analyses can only be done using either the CCHS Master Files, which are available to researchers based in government or universities, or the public use PUMF files which are typically not released for several years after survey completion.   

Federal Health Minister pressed to ban flavoured vaping products across Canada during the National Health Ministers’ Conference in Calgary on October 16th and 17th

 Press release

Calgary – Health organizations from across Canada are urging federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel to prohibit flavoured vaping products to protect Canadian youth from nicotine addiction. The appeal comes as federal, provincial and territorial ministers converge in Calgary for two days of deliberations on national health priorities.

The coalition is running high-profile ads in downtown Calgary and at the YYC airport, revealing that over 24,000 youth have started using nicotine vaping products since federal health minister Marjorie Michel took office last spring. The ads are aimed at all the health ministers and their delegations (see ad copy below).

“Over 24,000 youth have started using nicotine vaping products in the last few months since the Minister took office,” said Les Hagen of ASH Canada. “This translates into over 50,000 new youth users annually, which is 50,000 too many. The federal Health Minister needs to respond quickly if she is truly committed to improving public health and protecting youth from tobacco and nicotine companies. We know that the provincial and territorial health ministers agree, and they need to remind her of this urgency during their discussions”.

“The federal government has delayed the approval of regulations to ban flavoured vaping products for over four years,” said Flory Doucas of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control. “We urge Minister Michel to take immediate action, and we encourage her provincial and territorial counterparts to support these efforts. A strong national consensus will pave the way for strong national protection and make it much harder for industry to target kids with appealing flavours that trivialize nicotine addiction”.

Besides the numerous countries that have banned recreational vaping products altogether, a growing number have at least banned flavours other than tobacco, such as Finland in 2016, Lithuania in 2022, Hungary and Ukraine in 2023, the Netherlands and Slovenia in 2024 and Latvia in 2025. Closer to home, the states of California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington, DC have also banned flavours. In Canada, four provinces and two territories have banned flavoured vaping products. However, the provincial bans are largely being undermined by illegal shipments and online sales from other provinces.

“Federal restrictions on vaping flavours would make it much harder for retailers to offer these enticing, addictive products and would provide effective protection for all Canadian youth”, said Cynthia Callard of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. “The federal government can control borders and oversee international shipments and trade restrictions, and such measures would facilitate enforcement and curb illegal shipments at the source. The lack of federal action is allowing the industry to undermine provincial measures”.

“Just as there is a federal ban on interprovincial sales of cigarettes, a federal flavour ban on vaping products should be accompanied by a ban on online sales, as this would further reduce youth access to vaping products,” added Doucas. “It’s far too easy for youth to order vaping products online and avoid age detection. A ban on online sales will protect more youth from nicotine addiction and potential tobacco use”. 

A recent “umbrella review” of published peer-reviewed health studies revealed that youth who use nicotine vaping products are three times as likely to start smoking. Tobacco and vaping products share the same fundamental health hazard—nicotine addiction. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in existence.

“There is no benefit to be derived from 50,000 new youth nicotine users annually”, said Hagen. “Nicotine is a harmful and addictive substance that can lead to tobacco dependency and all its associated health risks. Tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of premature death in Canada, claiming the lives of 46,000 Canadians annually.

“As part of their upcoming two days of discussions, provincial health ministers should call on the federal Minister to strengthen and implement without further delays the vaping flavour additive restrictions that Ottawa originally announced in 2021,” concludes Callard.

The federal government has committed to reducing tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035. About 3.6 million Canadians continue to smoke tobacco products, representing 12% of all people aged 15 and over, according to the 2024 Canadian Community Health Survey. Over 300,000 youth aged 12-17 vaped in the past 30 days in 2024 according to the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth.

Action on Smoking & Health (ASH Canada)

Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada

New Canadian Clinical Guidelines for Smoking Cessation Interventions

This week the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care presented its first set of advice for clinicians to help their patients quit cigarette smoking. These guidelines are published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in the article "Recommendations on interventions for tobacco smoking cessation in adults in Canada". 

The task force has packaged its advice in a number of formats for different audiences. In addition to the CMAJ article and appendices, it has prepared infographics and discussion tools for physicians and smokers which are available on the Task Force's website. 

These guidelines encourage clinicians to support quit attempts and the use of proven stop-smoking interventions and medications. 

The task force strongly recommends the use of stop-smoking medications supported by clinical trials:  NRT (patch, gum, lozenges, inhaler, spray used alone or together), Varenicline, Bupropion and Cytisine. (The use of nicotine pouches was not included in this review, but may be considered for future updates.) It strongly recommends combind behavioural and pharmacotherapy interventions.

Conditional recommendation is given to on-line support, provided it is accompanied by direct behavioural support. 

The task force strongly recommends against the use of methods which have little to no proven effect, including acupuncture, hypnosis, laser therapy, electric current stimulation, ear acupressure and St. John's wort.

The task force conditionally recommends against the use of e-cigarettes, except for those smokers who have already unsuccessfully tried other interventions, are unwilling to try other interventions, or express a strong preference for e-cigarettes. 

The authors of this review detail their many concerns with respect to e-cigarettes. They cite the potential for long-term harms, the evidence of lengthy continued use of e-cigarettes, the significant rate of dual use following an unsuccessful quit attempt using e-cigarettes and the greater risk of relapse among those who use this method. They also note the absence of an approved e-cigarette with a verified formulation, the wide variability in the design of products on the market, the involvement of tobacco companies in their manufacture and the greater risk than with other NRT of long term nicotine use. 

Although their evidence review did not include population-level studies, the task force was concerned with the societal impact of e-cigarettes being promoted as cessation products. "There are uncertain public health and societal impacts of normalizing e-cigarettes as a population approach to cessation. The task force is concerned that this could, for instance, inadvertently increase uptake of vaping among youths and nicotine addiction in the general population. Given the large increases observed in youth vaping in recent years, the possible impact of recommending e-cigarettes for smoking cessation on this trend is a concern for the task force."

Their recommendations were tempered by the reality of the permissive legal framework for cigarettes and their widespread use. "Many people are already using e-cigarettes to attempt to quit smoking. For these individuals, the choice may be between attempting to quit using e-cigarettes with advice and support of a health care provider versus doing this alone without informed guidance."

About the work of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care

In developing these guidelines, the Task Force followed the process it had established for all clinical guideline reviews. Research reports on the results of experimental interventions for smoking cessation in clinical settings were collected, screened and reviewed following a research protocol developed more than 6 years ago. The guidelines were based on these research findings and informed by a subsequent review by interested stakeholders and some members of the public.

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care is a body of experts convened through the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and tasked with the development of clinical practice guidelines that support primary care providers in delivering preventive health care. Although it is managed through a government agency (and subject to some level of government control), it identifies itself as "an independent, objective, arms-length panel of experts without ties to industry or government." 

Today's issue of the CMAJ also includes an editorial calling for greater institutional and clinical support for smoking cessation and a commentary on ways to modernize the work of the Task Force.

Statistics Canada finds no decrease in smoking or vaping in 2024

This morning Statistics Canada updated its table of "Health indicator statistics, annual estimates" to include the results of the 2024 wave of the Canadian Community Health Survey. This data included estimates of "current" and "daily" cigarette smoking, as well as past-month e-cigarette use.

Although the estimates of prevalence for these behaviours in 2024 were slightly lower than in 2023, in all three cases the agency found that there was no statistically significant decrease in these indicators. 

For 2024 they estimate there are 3.6 million Canadian smokers (of whom 2.7 million smoke on a daily basis) and 1.9 million vapers. 

Otherwise expressed, 11% of Canadians are smokers, of whom 8% smoke on a daily basis and 6% of Canadians have used a vaping product at least once in the past month. This compares with 19% who have had at least one bout of heavy drinking in the past year and 6% who use cannabis daily or almost daily.

Until 2023 the agency included children aged 12 to 17 in the survey, but now only includes those who are 18 years of age or older. This and other methodological issues make it difficult to robustly compare the results after 2023 with those of previous years.

The chart below shows the results of various federal government surveys since 2000.

 

Health Groups call on Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel to ban vape flavours within her first 100 days.

 PRESS RELEASE

(Ottawa – May 26, 2025) – Deeply concerned with the impact of the previous government’s permissive approach to nicotine vaping products, tobacco control organizations are calling on the new government to quickly align controls on this market with those used for tobacco.

As part of these important reforms, they are asking for regulations to ban flavours in vaping products to be finalized within the Health Minister’s first 100 days in office. Restricting flavours in vaping products was a commitment made by the Liberal Party in the recent federal election.

“Minister Michel has inherited the youth vaping crisis, and her intervention is urgently needed to clean up the mess her predecessors left behind,” said Les Hagen, Executive Director of Action on Smoking & Health. “This will require her to stand up to the tobacco industry and its front groups, and to protect youth from their attempts to undermine health policies.”

“The youth vaping crisis has gone on far too long,” he added. “The past government’s decision to liberalize the sale of vaping products has negatively impacted one-half of Canadian youth without producing any measurable benefit in overall smoking cessation among adults.”

Vaping products became legal for sale and promotion in Canada in May 2018, and were exempted from the marketing restrictions that have been proven to help protect young people from starting to use tobacco products. These measures include large graphic health warnings, plain and standardized products and packaging, bans on flavourings and sweeteners, and controls on accessibility including a ban on interprovincial sales.

“Over the past seven years, parents, teachers and health professionals have struggled to protect kids from the predatory commercial activities which followed,” said Flory Doucas, co-director of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control. “They have waited for meaningful federal government action while hundreds of thousands of children were being recruited to nicotine addiction by an industry sugar-coating a harmful drug with exotic flavours and playful devices.”

Health Canada’s 2023 Canadian Substance Use Survey found that over one million Canadian teenagers aged 15-19 (48%) had tried vaping products, 681,000 (31%) had used them in the past month and that 400,600 (17%) were vaping on a daily basis.

“We cannot afford for this government to sit on its hands or take the same laissez-faire approach to the tobacco and nicotine industry as its predecessor,” said Cynthia Callard, Executive Director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. “The need for stronger regulations has been recognized by government for years, as the cost of its inaction continues to climb.”

Health Canada proposed several measures to address the youth vaping crisis in the spring of 2019. Only one of these measures has been approved (limiting nicotine concentration), despite ongoing appeals by health organizations and federal and provincial Medical Officers of Health. Four years after draft regulations to restrict flavourings were published, they have still not been finalized despite Ministerial promises to do so.

“The legalization of vaping products has not produced a net public health benefit in Canada,” said Ms. Callard. “Since 2018 there has been no increase in quit attempts or in successful quitting among smokers, and the number of former smokers has actually dropped. Smoking rates are going down at a slower rate than in years prior to the legalization of nicotine vaping products.” 

Opening the vaping market allowed corporate interests to halt the reduction in nicotine addiction. The widespread use of nicotine products among young people means there are as many or more nicotine users in Canada as there were before these products were legalized. Only a minority of Canadian vapers (28%) are former smokers. 

“The previous government’s preference for a poorly regulated vaping market has facilitated the tobacco industry pivoting to other harmful products and launching a new epidemic of nicotine addiction,” said Mr. Hagen.

Health Canada’s Canadian Substance Use Survey found that one in every three young Canadians who had tried vaping even once were using these products on a daily basis. Independent studies of nicotine use among youth report that young vapers find themselves more addicted than do young cigarette smokers. Many studies report that youth who use vaping products are much more likely to start using tobacco products.

In addition to being highly addictive, vaping products present significant risks for cardiovascular disease, lung injury and exposure to toxins, especially given some of the additives used to flavour liquids.

“We are not calling for a ban on vaping products,” said Flory Doucas. “We are calling for the use of proven regulatory controls to prevent industry from enticing young people to experiment with and become addicted to nicotine.”

“At the current rate of initiation, the nicotine industry is set to recruit more than 15,000 school-aged children to vaping during Minister Michel’s first 100 days in office. She is the Canadian with the greatest power and responsibility to bring that number down before the start of the school year this September.”

Backgrounder can be downloaded Here. 

Canada's conservatives give the floor to the tobacco industry

This post reports on the presence this week of tobacco and nicotine interests at the Canada Strong & Free Network (CSFN) Conference held in Ottawa. 

The CSFN is a political advocacy group established twenty years ago by Preston Manning as the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, but was given a new name in 2025.  Its relationship with Canada's Conservative Party is described as "interlocking", with board members including former federal cabinet ministers (Joe Oliver) and political advisors (Ray Novak, Kate Harrison).

The CSFN hosts two networking conferences each year --  billing them as "exchanges of ideas and best practices and fulfilling our mission of facilitating exchanges and stronger relationships amongst the conservative movement’s various components."

This year's conference features presentations by tobacco industry agencies (Frank Silva, Imperial Tobacco), industry-sponsored agencies (Consumer Choice, Maria Papaionnou, Rights4Vapers) and individuals (Ian Irvine) and nicotine apologist (David Sweanor).

On yesterday's agenda, Imperial Tobacco's CEO was scheduled to introduce a talk on "Why Liberalism Failed" shortly after a panel discussion with vaping advocates: "Common Sense Policies that Let Adults Be Adults."

The presence of tobacco-nicotine industry spokespeople and strategists in this spring's conference is noteworthy in the context of the federal election in which the event falls. In previous meetings Imperial Tobacco has sponsored refreshments (October 2024; April 2024) and Rights4Vapers has also sponsored previous meetings,  as has the Vaping Industry Trade Association. This year's agenda appears to be the first in which this industry has been promoted to the front of the room.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control imposes requirements on governments to protect public health measures from tobacco industry interference, and offers guidance on how to implement this obligation. Health Canada recently published guidance for federal employees, but has refrained from offering recommendations to political agencies (or other levels of government). 

The Article 5.3 guidelines are based on the principle that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health interests.  They call for accountability and transparency on the part of government and the industry. Health Canada has failed to impose on the industry any reporting requirements on political sponsorships or related expenditures. 

The cozying up between nicotine manufacturers and politicians and political advocacy groups that took place this week in Ottawa is not illegal. But it is a discouraging sign for those who have previously relied on pan-partisan support for tobacco control. 

The CFSN has proposed an answer to Canada's Conservative Party on the fundamental political question of  "whose side are you on?" There are 17 days left for this and other parties to provide a clear answer to this question.  

Regulations to implement a regulatory charge are published today

 Today's edition of the Canada Gazette (Part II) included the first public release of the regulations that will require tobacco companies to pay some of the federal governments' costs to manage the industry. These regulations are the Tobacco Charges Regulations SOR/2025-80. The regulations were announced two weeks ago by Ya'ara Saks before the change in prime minister and cabinet. 

Under this new regulation Health Canada, the Public Health Agency and Indigenous Services Canada are required to calculate the amount that it spends in its tobacco regulation and then apportions this cost on manufacturers in proportion to their revenues. Companies are required to provide net sales revenues for each category of tobacco products (e.g. cigarettes, little cigars, heated tobacco, etc.). The charge is not applied to vaping products, nicotine pouches or other nicotine products which do not contain tobacco leaf.

The date that the regulation comes into force is not established. The text provides it to come into force no earlier than May 1, 2025, but leaves an option for the incoming government to cancel the approach merely by not completing the registration process. "11 (1) These Regulations, except section 9, come into force on May 1, 2025, but if they are registered after that day, they come into force on the day on which they are registered."

This charge was a key demand of leading health charities during the last federal election, and was the only tobacco- or nicotine- related measure identified in the mandate letter issued to the Minister of Addictions in 2021. The regulation was adopted by cabinet on March 6 - eight days before the change in government.  (The 2021 mandate letter has been removed from the Prime Ministers website, but is available on the Internet Archive.) 

The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act was amended as part of the 2024 budget bill to authorize the government to recoup certain costs provided that they were related to "the carrying out of the purpose of this Act."  

The TVPA purpose with respect to tobacco is narrowly cast. Other than the generalized intent "to protect the health of Canadians", it identifies the protection of young persons and others from inducements to use tobacco products, to restrict the access of young persons to tobacco products, and to enhance public awareness (and avoid misinformation) about the risks of tobacco use.

Nonetheless, the intent of the department at this time is to use this charge to recoup costs associated with activities that are not clearly embraced by the TVPA purpose. The activities listed in the (non-binding) regulatory impact statement (RIAS) are: "compliance and enforcement activities, laboratory analysis, development and implementation of regulations, public education and awareness on the health hazards of tobacco use, supporting improved services and resources to help people quit smoking, and providing funding to First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation to develop and implement approaches to reducing commercial tobacco use. The costs to administer the tobacco cost recovery framework will also be included. Activities undertaken in relation to vaping are not included at this time, except if they are for the purpose of helping Canadians quit tobacco."

The weakness of the link between these activities and the legislated purpose of the act were the focus of the concerns we expressed about the proposed fee last summer, and our subsequent recommendations for a revised purpose to the law.  These concerns were not identified in the RIAS published today. 

To date Health Canada has not predicted how much it would recover as a result of this new charge. The RIAS identifies that the regulation will cost the industry $42.54 million per year, including their own reporting and administrative costs. The administrative costs for the federal government to administer the program are estimated at $1.3 million per year.   

The RIAS states that the three departments which will participate in this process currently receive 85% of the $66.2 million annual budget for tobacco control (including vaping and other forms of nicotine use). Information from other sources on federal expenditures on tobacco control can be found on our 2024 fact sheet