Smoking and Vaping Rules in Ottawa

This page is deliberately short. We read provincial law in full, but the City of Ottawa’s pages on its smoking and vaping by-law returned no content to our tools on the review date, so we have not repeated any figures about it. Better a gap than a distance that might be wrong.

What applies in Ottawa today

These rules come from the Province of Ontario and apply in every Ontario city:

• Indoors. Smoking and vaping are banned in enclosed workplaces, even when they are closed, and in enclosed public places.
• Patios. Banned on bar and restaurant patios and in public areas within 9 metres of them. A narrow exception covers certain patios set up before 18 November 2013 for veterans’ organizations.
• Schools and playgrounds. Banned on school grounds, children’s playgrounds and publicly owned sports areas, and in public areas within 20 metres of them. Golf courses are excluded.
• Hospitals. Banned within 9 metres of entrances and exits.
• Bus shelters. Sheltered outdoor areas with more than two walls and a roof are off limits when the public is invited to use them.
• Vehicles. Banned when anyone aged 15 or younger is inside.
• Fines. A conviction carries $1,000 for a first offence and $5,000 for any further offence.
• Age. Tobacco and vapour products cannot be sold or supplied to anyone younger than 19.

What to check on ottawa.ca

Cities in Ontario can add limits for municipal property such as parks, and for things the province leaves alone. For Ottawa, look for the city’s current smoking and vaping by-law and its parks and facilities by-law on ottawa.ca, and read the definitions, the prohibited places and the fine schedule yourself. We will add them here once we can read the official text.

For a worked example of a city layered on top of Ontario law, see Toronto. The full provincial picture is on Ontario’s smoking and vaping law and Ontario’s essentials, and age limits across Canada are in the legal smoking age. More cities are on the bylaw hub.