BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: Faced with increased lifestyle and online promotion for vaping products, the Canadian province of Quebec introduced restrictions on retail and promotion in 2015. Unfortunately, the Canadian government’s legalization of nicotine vaping products with few restrictions on sale and promotion, led to a surge in youth vaping across the country, including in Quebec.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Between 2020 and 2023, two territories and four provinces banned the sale of vaping products with characterizing flavours other than tobacco. In addition to limiting characterizing flavours to tobacco, Quebec’s October 2023 regulation limits the sale of any device pre-filled with more than 2ml of nicotine liquid, refills with more than 30 ml, and devices in the form of a toy, piece of jewelry, food, animal or real or fictional person, or any other form, appearance or function that might be attractive to minors.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: The vaping industry and specialized retailers responded by circumventing restrictions in a number of ways: by mislabelling flavoured products as tobacco, by diversifying their shops to sell flavours enhancers that can easily be combined with flavourless e-liquids, and by promoting and delivering uncompliant products to Quebec consumers via online retail websites located in other provinces. While polling indicates that youth have found the appeal of vaping products reduced, flavoured vaping products remain easily accessible to Quebec consumers through the generally delinquent Canadian retail sector.
CONCLUSIONS: With other jurisdictions and countries experiencing or anticipating similar challenges following the implementation of flavour bans, the Quebec experience provides various lessons for advocates and policymakers. For example, it highlights the merits of country-wide bans on online sale (as opposed to subnational ones), the simultaneous introduction of standardize packaging, a licencing regime with relevant criteria, and additional controls to limit the dual sale of e-liquids and separate e-liquid flavouring.