Ontario’s Bill 45 “Making Healthier Choices Act 2015”
In Ontario, a ban on vaping had been delayed last December, that gave a piece of hope to the Canadian vapers of this east-central province that hosts almost 40% of the country’s population.
But last March, the provincial government, after re-examining the exemption, announced they would be implementing the anti-vaping regulation at the same time as vaporized medical marijuana.
“A stunning reversal”
The Canadian journalist, Brent Stafford, in regulatorwatch.com, qualifies Katheleen Wynne’s announce of a “stunning reversal” since the provincial government came back to the original regulation that it expanded to include a broaden definition of the e-cigarette, new prohibitions on sales and locations and significant restrictions on product detailing and display in stores. A bombshell that has been dropped on purpose.
It is time to let the government know how vapers feel
The new regulation is currently at the middle of a 45-day concertation period and is set to be enforced on July 1st.
CVA, represented by a consulting agency
Interviewed by the RegWatch, Marc Kealey, Principal of K&A consulting, discusses the latest developments on vaping rights in Ontario and the rest of Canada. Marc Kealey is a leading voice for transformation in Health care and drug reform. He is an advisor to several organizations in Canada among which the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) representing over 300 retail and online electronic cigarette businesses in Canada.
According to the expert, the government shouldn’t have combined vaporizing marijuana and e-cigarette, which makes the current situation tricky. The people using vaporized marijuana are not the same as those who use the e-cigarette as an alternative of smoking cigarettes. Similarly, the e-cigarette is assimilated as a tobacco product by regulators, and this is also a mistake, for the Marc Kealey. Vaping is not smoking, but almost anyone knows that…
His fight with the CVA in Ontario is to exempt vape shops from display and promotion bans on the vaping products so that owners can go on doing their job without being in danger of shutting down the curtain.
VAO goes to the streets
The Vapor Advocates of Ontario (VAO), a grass roots advocacy group comprised of consumers and business owners, will organize a protest and gather Ontarian vapers at Toronto Queen’s Park on Saturday, April 9 at 12:30p.
The organizers criticize Kathleen Wynne’s Government, they say, “for violating the constitutional rights of Ontarians who use vaping as a smoking cessation strategy as well as shop owners who wish to promote and educate customers on the safe use of vape-related products inside their own commercial spaces through sampling”.
According to the VAO, Kathleen Wynne is “stigmatizing a proven harm reduction strategy for people looking to curb their smoking habit.” They also recall the 100,000 and more Canadians who have successfully quit smoking through vaping, and the interdiction of the Wynne Government for small business owners to promote the cessation benefits to customers.
The protest is organized by Vapor Advocates of Ontario and is a follow up of that of December 5, 2015.
