Get The Facts

Summary:

• In August 2017, the OCSA (Ontario Convience Store Association) came out with a proposal to "regulate vaping". Essentially lobbying to classify vaping products as tobacco products [6].
• In 2016, the Government of Ontario prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone below the age of 19 [1]. The Government also correctly realized that vaping regulations should be separate and unique from tobacco, and crafted dedicated legislation titled "Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015" [4]
• In 2017, the Canadian Government introduced bill S-5, "Health Canada says the move will balance the need to protect young people from nicotine addiction while allowing adult smokers to legally buy vaping products and e-cigarettes to help quit smoking or as a potentially less harmful alternative to tobacco." [2]
• Electronic Cigarettes have already been shown to be at least 95% less harmful than tobacco and not a gateway to tobacco use in young people - conducted by a UK Government study[3].
  Which summarizes:
  • "the current best estimate is that e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking"
  • "nearly half the (UK) population (44.8%) don’t realise e-cigarettes are much less harmful than smoking"
  • "there is no evidence so far that e-cigarettes are acting as a route into smoking for children or non-smokers"

What's Happening

On August 1st, 2017, The Ontario Convenience Store Association, launched a campaign to lobby the Ontario Government to treat vaping products the same as tobacco. OSCA is disregarding the scientific consensus, health experts, and millions of testimonials of the life-saving abilities of vapour products at the same time dismissing the rights of all Ontarians as written in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 2015, The Government of Ontario introduced legislation titled the “Making Healthier Choices Act” (Bill 45), which prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 19 years old [4]. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are designed to deliver nicotine and mimic the size, appearance, use, and sometimes even taste of a cigarette, but does not use combustion to produce “smoke”, thus potentially improving health benefits to 20% of Ontarians (1 in 5 identify as current smokers [5]).

By lobbying for the ban of product sampling in stores they are minimizing the pivotal role that sampling provides, the success rates of those who have stopped smoking & the knowledge the vaping industry provides.. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act has a variety of goals which protect the health and livelihood of all Ontarians. The industry fully supports its mandate and considers the classification of vapour products as tobacco is in direct violation of its mandate.

How Can I Help?

Now is your time for your voice to be heard. By submitting the form below, your message will be directly e-mailed to the Health Minister, the Premier, and your MPP. You will also be able to choose to be added to a list of supporters who are interested in receiving updated on vaping legislation changes. It is important to make your voice heard.

Press Releases

Find our recent press releases here:

August 8th 2017
TORONTO, ONTARIO– Vapor Advocates of Ontario (VAO) have come out swinging in response to the new campaign fronted by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) vapingregulation.ca, opposing differential regulation for e-cigarettes, low-risk alternatives to cigarettes.

Media Inquiries

Media Inquries can e-mail or call:

E-mail: media@vapingisntsmoking.ca
Telephone: 1 (877) 750-2023

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