Canada Pauses on Vape Flavor Ban. But It’s “Far From Over.”

The Canadian government has put a proposed vape flavor ban on hold. The decision, confirmed by Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks in January, followed concerted efforts from tobacco harm reduction advocates who oppose the policy. It also arrived amid fresh evidence of the importance of flavors in helping people quit smoking in Canada.

But advocates emphasize that the threat has merely been postponed until after an anticipated federal election, rather than canceled. Certain public health groups that have pushed for the ban are unlikely to give up.

“We left the meeting with the firm belief that we are not going to see a ban on vaping flavors this year,” said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, after speaking with Saks in January. “We are greatly disappointed.”

“I am truly impressed with Ms. Saks for her commitment to following the science.”

It’s been a long saga. Health Canada, the federal health department, first proposed limiting flavors to just menthol, tobacco and mint in 2021, blaming sweet flavors for an increase in youth vaping.

In October 2024, as Filter reported, things escalated as activists clashed over the role flavors play. Pro-ban advocates demanded the resignation of Saks if she didn’t grant their wish, describing youth vaping as “out of control.”

Tobacco harm reduction activists responded with their own press conference—urging Saks to reject the “bullying tactics” of “anti-harm reduction lobbyists,” and identifying flavors as critical to smoking cessation and saving lives.

The harm reduction case won out—for now—thanks to a lot of hard work.

“I am truly impressed with Ms. Saks for her commitment to following the science,” Maria Papaioannoy, a spokesperson for Rights 4 Vapers, told Filter.

The consumer group, she explained, spent the past 12 months working to keep the public informed of what was at stake, as well as advocating to policymakers. “In 2024 alone, Canadians sent over 100,000 letters to elected officials, highlighting the importance of flavors.”

“Efforts to ban flavors in Canada, as elsewhere, are part of an ideological, abstinence-only agenda rather than a public health agenda.”

That importance was underlined by a study published just before the ban delay was announced.

The researchers looked at data on smoking cessation attempts made by Canadians between 2020 and 2022. They found that one in five people used vapes to help them quit. What’s more, they found that 68 percent of Canadian adults who attempted to quit cigarettes in this way used flavors that would be removed from the market under the proposed ban.

“Our study is yet more evidence of how counterproductive such a measure would be,” co-author David Sweanor, a tobacco harm reduction expert and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, told Filter. “Efforts to ban flavors in Canada, as elsewhere, are part of an ideological, abstinence-only agenda rather than a public health agenda.”

Yet Papaioannoy stressed that, “As we head into 2025, the fight to keep flavors available for Canadians is far from over. It may be bigger than ever.”

“Let’s be clear.” The proposed policy “remains in place, waiting for a signature.”

“Let’s be clear: The ban has not been revoked,” she said. The proposed policy “remains in place, waiting for a signature.”

“If not for the dedication of consumers and supporters of tobacco harm reduction in making sure Saks had the facts, the regulation might have already been signed, leading to a very different fight in 2025,” Papaioannoy reflected.

One person with firsthand knowledge of how much this matters is Canadian tobacco harm reduction advocate Janine Timmons. After smoking for 40 years, she was finally able to quit—thanks to flavored vapes.

Timmons described her reaction to the ban delay as “mixed.”

“I’d like to think Minister Saks has paused the discussion realizing the decision should not be in haste, and needs more careful examination,” she told Filter. But she fears it might be more a case of the issue just being temporarily put on the back burner, when a federal election may take place as early as the spring.

While some doctors have been prominent proponents of a flavor ban, Dr. John Oyston, a retired anesthesiologist in Toronto, advocates for access to safer nicotine products for adults who smoke.

“Vape flavor bans have been proven to lead to an increase in dangerous practices.”

“More and more evidence from the USA shows that banning pleasant, fruity flavors in vapes makes vaping less enjoyable for both youth and adults trying to quit smoking,” he told Filter.

Oyston supports compliance with age restrictions on vaping, but sees smoking cessation as the top priority, when smoking is Canada’s biggest cause of preventable death.

“Vape flavor bans have been proven to lead to an increase in dangerous practices,” he added, including more cigarette smoking, exposure to unsafe products or situations through illicit vape markets, and “people making their own vape juice mixes.”  

Those situations are close to home when six of Canada’s 10 provinces—including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island—have already enacted their own flavor bans.

A ban in Quebec, imposed in 2023, has been “disastrous on all fronts,” according to tobacco harm reduction advocates, who estimated in December that 36 percent of vapers there had switched back to cigarettes.

“My smoke-free life is in the hands of policymakers who very likely never smoked.”

In the long term, “I think the combination of accumulating scientific knowledge, the way bans inevitably create illicit markets, the flouting of public health ethics and looming constitutional changes will end these bans,” Sweanor said.

However, “Sadly, the federal pause on the flavor ban will have little impact on Quebec’s ban and any other province,” Papaioannoy noted, adding that, “Tobacco Control have spent all their resources ensuring that only they will be heard by the provinces.”

Timmons said she is “hesitant” to allow herself to feel hopeful. “My smoke-free life is in the hands of policymakers who very likely never smoked,” she said, “and I am more than tired of being discussed while excluded from the room.”

Photograph by Lindsay Fox/Ecigarettereviewed.com via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0