THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini
In Canada, lobbyists are pushing the federal government to go even further by banning smoking and vaping products for the next generation entirely.
Sarah Sleet, CEO of Asthma + Lung U.K., said there has been broad public support for the move in Britain but it took decades of lobbying and advocacy.
"If you survey smokers, they do not want their children to be smoking. They know what a terrible thing it is, they know how bad it is for their health, they know how expensive it is," she said.
The law also had cross-partisan support. It was proposed by a Conservative government in 2023 and eventually passed under the current Labour government.
The proposed bill initially included vaping products, but the final version is limited to smoking. The Lung Health Foundation in Canada wants to bring vaping into the conversation.
"Kids who vape are 3 1/2 times more likely to smoke tobacco in the future," said Jessica Buckley, president and CEO of the foundation.
Sleet said some in the United Kingdom were concerned about the law limiting access to vaping products that are used to help people stop smoking. The law did bring in stronger rules on the sale of vapes, including plain packaging and a requirement that stores keep the products behind screens.
The British law didn't come without pushback from the tobacco industry.
Eric Gagnon, vice-president of regulatory affairs for Imperial Tobacco Canada, said while he shares the goal of keeping cigarettes and vapes out of the hands of youth, the tobacco industry does not support a prohibition on smoking, however gradual.
He pointed out that Canada has gone in the opposite direction with cannabis by legalizing and regulating the product, despite research showing smoking and vaping cannabis is harmful. He also warned that a ban would feed the black market.
"Canada already has a huge illicit market, not only on cigarettes but on nicotine pouches, on vaping products," Gagnon said.
Convenience store retailers are also opposed to such a ban and argue the illicit market has well-documented links to organized crime.
"Canada is unique in the illegal tobacco market, with one of the most sophisticated contraband trades in the world. Illegal tobacco products account for 50 per cent of the national market, and even more in some regions," said Jeff Brownlee, vice-president of communications for the Convenience Industry Council of Canada.
Brownlee called for a national strategy to crack down on contraband.
In the United Kingdom, advocates' research showed the size of the illicit market "is massively overestimated," Sleet said. The British government said raising the smoking age to 18 from 16 in 2007 and 2008 led to a 25 per cent reduction in the number of illicit cigarettes consumed.
"What it takes is, obviously, strong enforcement," she said.
Two pallets of tobacco products on display during a RCMP news conference announcing the results of the latest enforcement against organized crime groups involved in trafficking contraband tobacco in Surrey, B.C., Friday, March 8, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
U.K. research estimates smoking costs the equivalent of $5.6 billion a year in health and social services, and costs the wider economy some $32 billion. Sleet said those sums outweigh the estimated losses in government revenue from excise taxes and sales of cigarettes.
In Canada, the estimated public cost of tobacco use is $11.2 billion a year and as many as 46,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses each year.
The federal government collected $2.6 billion in tobacco excise tax revenue in 2024, according to a report from the parliamentary budget officer.
Buckley and dozens of advocates plan to be on Parliament Hill next week for a lobbying push to convince the federal government that a generational tobacco ban could save health care funding desperately needed for Canada's aging population.
"It's very difficult to have levers to pull on the health-care side in order to reduce those costs long-term," she said.
Buckley said they'll also be armed with polling that suggests broad public support in Canada for a generational ban.
She said they have meetings scheduled with advisers to Health Minister Marjorie Michel and her parliamentary secretary Maggie Chi.
Canada has a national strategy to reduce tobacco use to five per cent of the population by 2035 — currently, about 11 per cent of Canadians smoke — and directs $66 million a year toward stop-smoking programs.
Michel's office said in a statement that Canada isn't currently considering introducing a prohibition.
"We continue to monitor measures taken by like-minded countries to reduce youth smoking, including the United Kingdom's recent initiative," said Alexandre Bergeron, Michel's spokesperson.
From the other side of the pond, Sleet has a message for Canadian lawmakers.
"Be brave, go for it," she said. "You're not going to regret it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.
By Sarah Ritchie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Bianca Longpré prend la défense de Renee Wilkin après des commentaires sur son physique
La « mère ordinaire », qui n'a pas la langue dans sa poche, a fait une story le dimanche 27 septembre qui aborde les jugements négatifs sur le physique des femmes. Bianca Longpré y défend la chanteuse Renée Wilkin, ayant reçu des commentaires haineux sur sa tenue.
Bianca Longpré mentionne que chacun a droit de ne pas aimer un vêtement, mais que cela ne doit pas être relié au corps de la personne qui le porte.
La sélection de l'éditeur : Ces anciennes candidates recherchent l'amour pour « matcher » Julie d'OD
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« Jeune, vieille, maigre, grosse, petites ou énormes boules, pendantes ou pas, décolleté ridé ou pas, bras mous ou pas : on porte ce qu'on veut […] »
Bianca Longpré
La mère influenceuse explique qu'entre filles, il ne faudrait pas accepter les commentaires désobligeants.
« Gère ton look, j'va gérer le mien », ajoute-t-elle.
Suite à sa parution à l’émission Bonsoir Bonsoir le vendredi 25 septembre, Renee Wilkin était déçue de constater que les commentaires ne portaient pas sur sa voix, mais sur son physique.
« Parce qu’apparemment un pantalon moulant sur mon corps remet en question l’intégralité de ma carrière […] » a-t-elle expliqué sur les réseaux sociaux.
Elle a reçu plein de support et d'amour de ses fans et a repartagé le message de Bianca Longpré.
Renee Wilkin ajoute qu'elle prépare un vidéo-clip qui devrait faire taire ses haters :
« […] merci de m’avoir fait comprendre, hier soir, plus que jamais, pourquoi je l’ai fait, pourquoi il mettra en lumière des corps trop peu représentés dans la culture pop ».