Ottawa Public Health recommends cigarette ban for anyone born after 2008, raise minimum age of smoking
Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is recommending that Health Canada introduce a New Zealand-style law of banning an entire generation from being able to purchase tobacco and raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes to 21 and older.
In a submission by Ottawa medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches to Health Canada on Nov. 23, Etches made recommendations in a memo on a review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.
Etches outlines a number of recommendations including a full-scale ban on anyone born after 2008 from purchasing cigarettes.
- Sign up now for our nightly CTV News Ottawa newsletter
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
The policy to implement a generational smoking ban was championed by New Zealand, who last year banned the sale of tobacco to anyone born after Jan. 1 2009.
Less than a year after passing the world-leading tobacco ban, the country decided to scrap the policy this month. The United Kingdom is looking into passing a similar ban.
OPH is hoping to reduce the number of smokers to five per cent among the Canadian population, from the current 12 per cent according the Statistics Canada.
"By following a similar approach, it is recommended that Canada adapt New Zealand’s approach to reach the same five per cent target," the memo to Health Canada said.
Smoking leads to more than eight million deaths globally each year, according to the World Health Organization – with one in four people across the world using tobacco.
Canada has some of the strictest policies on smoking in the world. It became the first country to implement health warnings on individual cigarettes, a policy that will be phased in over the next two years.
OPH says a growing issue is youth access to smoking. It is asking Health Canada to amend smoking laws to increase the federal minimum age for the purchase of tobacco to 21 years old, with the exception of smoking cessation products.
The health body says it has noticed a 'significant' increase in non-compliance for selling to a person under 19 by tobacco vendors in the city of Ottawa.
"From January to October 2023, the TEOs have issued 114 charges and 7 warnings while performing youth access inspections. The previous record for charges relating to selling to youth was 110 charges in 2011," the memo read.
Etches is also asking Health Canada to target online advertising and 'new and unregulated media' including by influencers who make content for streaming and on social media. This would include a regulation and enforcement strategy to restrict online cigarette advertising.
"An ever-changing media and technology landscape continue to create openings for harmful promotion and normalization of tobacco and nicotine products," OPH said
OPH noted that youth vaping is on the rise surpassing tobacco smoking rates from 2021 with 13 per cent of youth 15 to 19 years of age and 17 per cent of youth 20 to 24 years of age reporting vaping, compared to four per cent of adults 25 years and older.
Etches is asking the federal government to amend the Non-Smokers' Health Act to include non-smoking and non-vaping provisions on outdoor federal lands which includes parks, trails, lands and beaches.
Currently, no outdoor federal amenities are included in any federal, provincial or local smoke-free/vape-free regulations.
The City of Ottawa's Smoking and Vaping By-law prohibits smoking and vaping on all outdoor municipal property.
Canada has experienced a decline in overall smoking rates. In 2018, 15.8 per cent of Canadians 12 and older smoked cigarettes with the smoking rates falling 1 to 2 per cent annually to a rate of 11.8 per cent in 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Jasper updates: 'Significant loss' within Jasper townsite
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park has reached the townsite.
Alberta calls in army to assist with wildfire situation
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
2 Canadians being 'sent home immediately,' removed from Olympic team after drone incident
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: COVID-19
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Vacations, meals, booze: Contractor used $100K of charity's money for personal expenses, B.C. court finds
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Male, female killed, 2 others injured in 'gun battle' outside Toronto plaza: police
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.