The Ontario legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill May 26 that will ban the sale of flavoured tobacco products, including certain types of chewing tobacco, flavoured cigars, and menthol cigarettes.
Called the Making Healthier Choices Act (Bill 45), the act will also require all chain restaurants to provide visible information on calorie content.
Given the anti-smoking climate in Ontario with the passage of this bill, Toronto is already proposing to ban smoking hookahs indoors. Ottawa has not made any moves to ban it as of now.
Liberal MPP John Fraser cited the annual 13,000 smoking-related deaths within Canada as to why the provincial government supports Bill 45.
“We all know what these figures are and we all know what the right thing to do is,” said Fraser, who represents the riding of Ottawa South and is a parliamentary assistant to health minister Eric Hoskins.
“Essentially, out of youth who are smoking, almost half smoke a flavoured tobacco, about 46 per cent,” Fraser said, “and about a quarter smoke menthol, so they are generally considered to be a kind of gateway product.”
Andrew Robertson, a spokesperson for the associate health minister, suggested the date in which Bill 45 will come into power would be Jan. 1, 2016, with the prohibition on the sale of menthol cigarettes coming into effect within the following two years.
Jay Shoji, a fourth-year communications student at Carleton, said he is unhappy with the proposed ban on menthol cigarettes.
“Menthols are enjoyable to smoke at parties, and some brands even have less nicotine than regular cigarettes,” Shoji said. “In my opinion, it would be better to ban regular cigarettes before menthols.”
Commenting on the two-year delay on the ban of menthol cigarettes, Fraser said, “there is a little bit of a lag in there simply because there are a number of adult smokers who are smoking menthol, and this will allow some time for cessation and people to take measures.”
Bill 45 also proposed to ban the sale of e-cigarettes for people under 19, ban the use of it in public non-smoking areas, or display it in stores.
“We are also treating e-cigarettes the same as we would tobacco for youth, not for adults,” Fraser said. “It is showing some promise as a cessation product, but the jury is still out.”
In regards to the potential increase of black-market sales of flavoured tobacco resulting from this bill’s enactment, Fraser said this may become a possibility.
“It is kind of across the board—some people say they will quit, or they will find an alternative product, and some people say they may turn to illegal cigarettes,” Fraser said.
Fraser said collaboration between federal and provincial government agencies will be required.
Robertson mentioned several initiatives that may reduce the amount of illegal tobacco sales in Ontario, such as the oversight on the supply of raw leaf tobacco by the Ministry of Finance that began Jan. 1.
Relevant measures proposed within the last provincial budget will regulate acetate tow, a primary component of cigarette filters, and improve co-ordination between public health units and the Ministry of Health for tobacco inspections.
The passing of Bill 45 was nearly certain, according to Fraser, as it was supported by the Liberal and NDP caucuses as well as the Conservatives, whose support was only a “bit odd around e-cigarettes and menu labeling,” he said. The bill was also endorsed by the Canadian Cancer Society.
“These are reasonable measures,” Fraser said. “It is about making healthier choices. Smoking has a big cost to the health care system, but more importantly . . . to people’s lives”.
