Quebec joins Maritimes in vape ban, but experts unsure about its effectiveness

As Quebec gets ready to join a handful of provinces in banning flavoured vaping products, experts weigh in, stating the ban has not been nearly as effective as hoped for in provinces like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

Jumping on board with all three Maritime provinces and the Northwest Territories, when the clock strikes midnight on Monday, Quebec will no longer be allowed to sell flavoured vaping products.

“I understand why government would want to do it, but there’s no data to suggest that that’s the silver bullet in addressing youth vaping,” said Eric Gagnon, Imperial Tobacco Canada legal and external affairs vice president.

The idea is straightforward. The government is banning flavours that are enticing to youth to help deter younger people from starting the habit, but it doesn’t seem to be that simple in practice.

“Unfortunately the flavour ban hasn’t been as effective in the Maritimes as we had hoped and that’s due in large part to the non-compliance of the vape shops, vape shop owners in our region,” explained New Brunswick Anti-Tobacco Coalition manager, Kristin Farnam.

New Brunswick banned flavoured vape products back in September 2021.

Now, a little over two years later, experts say that usage rates for youth and young adults is still trending in the wrong direction.

“At this point what we really need is the federal government to step up and make a wide sweeping national flavour ban to really have a greater impact on our youth initiation rates and daily use rates,” said Farnam.

“The flavour ban was well intentioned, but unfortunately it just didn’t have the impact that many had hoped.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation says since vaping was introduced in Canada in 2004, one quarter of students in Grades 10 to 12 vape, which raises health concerns.

"Research has shown there are links between vaping and increased blood-pressure, increased heart-rate, damage to the function of blood vessels, and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases,” said Foram Patel, a policy analyst with Heart and Stroke.

Breaking it down even further in the Maritimes, Gagnon says the data implies the current regulation doesn’t work.

“In 2022, government data said youth vaping in Nova Scotia was about 22 per cent, while New Brunswick was around 18, so you don’t really see a correlation between the bans and youth vaping,” he said.

He says there needs to be balance between deterring youth while still giving options to adults who have chosen vaping as an alternative to traditional cigarettes.

“What we’ve seen with tobacco is education and awareness seems to be what’s really paying off and probably where the government needs to put its efforts is on that.”

Both Gagnon and Farnam say people looking for flavoured products will still be able to gain access to the products with this ban in place, whether that be through local vape stores who are still selling, online shopping, the black market or other options.

“The one thing that’s frustrating is, like I said, there’s federal regulation, which is not even respected at this point in time so you’re just imposing additional regulation without even considering what’s already in the market,” said Gagnon.

In New Brunswick, Farnam adds, “our province does have enforcement officers who are fining vape shops regularly, but this has not deterred them from selling these products.”

At this point everyone we spoke to agrees on two things: that vaping is dangerous for youth and that the current approach is not working.

Moving forward, the New Brunswick Anti-Tobacco Coalition says it is planning a rebrand that better relates with the public as it works towards making New Brunswick a smoke and vape free province.

“Our new name is going to be Smoke and Vape Free NB,” said Farnam.

“New look, same mission.”