NEWS
ONTARIO SET
TO BAN VAPING
INDOORS
– INCLUDING VAPE SHOPS
NEW LAW COULD HAVE “DEVASTATING
EFFECT” ON PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE
ECONOMY
BY STAFF REPORTER
A controversial new law which will ban the use of e-cigarettes in
any place where smoking is also prohibited will come into effect
in Ontario on July 1.
There has been widespread opposition to Bill 174 - the Smoke-
Free Ontario law - from throughout the vape industry amid fears
that it will hinder efforts to help smokers quit.
The Canadian Vaping Association says it will reduce access to a
potentially life-saving technology for people who are trying to quit
smoking, which they say will have a “devastating effect” on public
health and the economy.
Vape shop owners are angry because the law will prevent people
from vaping in their stores which means that smokers would not
even be able to try out vape products by sampling liquids.
The fear is that this will severely impact efforts to get smokers off
cigarettes by introducing them to e-cigarettes as a viable alternative.
The new law also covers packaging and promotion of vape products,
but it is the move which places smoking and vaping on equal
footing which has proved to be the most controversial.
The regulation says: “The smoking of tobacco or medical cannabis,
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the use of electronic cigarettes and the consumption of prescribed
products and substances is prohibited in … enclosed public places,
enclosed workplaces, schools, childcare centres, and the reserved
seating areas of sporting arenas.”
Within days of Bill 174 being introduced in November 2017 vapers
protested outside the offices of Northumberland-Quinte West MPP
Lou Rinaldi. Online campaigns “I Vape I Vote” and “Vaping Isn’t
Smoking” mobilised over 9,000 concerned vapers in a letter writing
campaign to local candidates.
On November 30, Canadian vape shop owner Maria Papaioannoy
argued her case on behalf of the local industry in a Huffington Post
article. She opened with a bold, passionate claim that 174 would
lead to “death and disease, destroy small businesses, ignore the
rights of consumers and protect the cigarette business.”
Papaioannoy was one of the protestors seen outside Rinaldi’s
office, and not only saw 174 as an affront to small business
and public health, but a repetition of previous mistakes, rushing
“an abstinence-only agenda through the legislature without any
significant public hearings, or a review of the science or human
rights issues that should inform policy making.”
CVA executive director Darryl Tempest called for “fair and balanced”
regulations that were in the best interests of Canadians.