Which Canadian Cities License Tobacco and Vape Shops?

A small group of Canadian cities license tobacco and vape shops themselves, on top of whatever the province requires. The clearest examples are in Ontario, where Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville and London each run a municipal retail licence. In British Columbia the tool is zoning: the City of Langley keeps vapour product stores 400 metres apart, and West Vancouver put forward a ban on vape retail in every zone. This page covers only what we could read on official pages. Provincial permits, display rules and age checks are on the retail licensing page and the vape retailer rules page.

Why a city licence exists next to a provincial one

Ontario has required a provincial tobacco retail dealer’s permit since 1 July 2018. It has no provincial permit for shops that sell only vaping products, according to Public Health Ontario’s summary of municipal licensing. The same summary says the Smoke-Free Ontario Act does not stop a municipality from imposing stronger local measures, and that where the two conflict the more restrictive provision prevails. Ontario’s Municipal Act gives local governments broad scope over business licensing and consumer protection.

Toronto’s 2019 staff report sets out the city’s reasoning. It said tobacco retailers already needed a municipal business licence, vapour retailers did not, and Toronto Public Health had no reliable way to find and inspect the 1,406 known vapour retailers, 78 of them specialty vape stores. A licence gives the city a list of premises and a set of tools, including charges and a hearing before the Toronto Licensing Tribunal that can revoke a licence or attach conditions.

Ontario cities with a retail licence

The table combines the cities’ own pages (Toronto and Mississauga) with Public Health Ontario’s February 2026 summary for the rest. Public Health Ontario warns that its list may miss some by-laws and that fees may have changed, so confirm an amount with the city before budgeting.

City	Products	By-law	New / renewal fee
Toronto (smoke shop)	Tobacco	Municipal Code, Chapter 545	$788.33 / $384.88
Toronto (vape)	Vapour	Municipal Code, Chapter 545	$772.87 / $377.33
Mississauga	Tobacco	By-law 0001-2006, Schedule 26	$358.47 / $259.71
Hamilton	Tobacco and vapour	By-law 07-170, Schedule 27	$869 to $1,082 / $780 to $863
Ottawa	Tobacco and vapour	By-law 2024-474, Schedule 12	$1,048 to $1,192
Brampton	Tobacco and vapour	By-law 184-2023, Schedule 27	$321 / $321
Oakville	Tobacco and vapour	By-law 2015-075, Schedule 35	$227 / $227
London	Tobacco and vapour	By-Law L.-131-16, Schedule 9	$318 / $318

Mississauga’s page describes a tobacco sales licence and does not mention vapour, and the Public Health Ontario table lists it for tobacco only. Hamilton’s page says a business licence is needed to sell tobacco and electronic cigarettes, and its fee range comes from the Public Health Ontario table. Our pages on smoking and vaping rules in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga and Brampton cover where people may smoke, which is a separate set of bylaws.

How Toronto’s licences work

Toronto is the best documented case. A smoke shop licence applies to any retail store that sells cigars, cigarettes or tobacco, and a Vapour Product Retailer licence applies to any store that sells vapour products. Stand-alone shops get a full licence. Businesses that already hold a licence, such as convenience stores, add an endorsement, and the vapour endorsement carries a $70.39 administration fee on the city’s page (a 2024 figure).

The vapour licence has been mandatory since 1 April 2020, under By-law 113-2020. As a condition of holding it, the shop must be registered with the Toronto Board of Health as a specialty vape store or tobacconist where the provincial act requires that. Applicants also supply a criminal record and judicial matters check, a business name registration and an occupancy declaration signed with the landlord. For the vapour licence, the city page says zoning approval is required for the majority of new applications. It is not required when an applicant takes over an existing business with a valid licence, or one whose licence expired less than three years earlier, in the same licence category.

The city must refuse an application or renewal on several grounds, including five or more convictions under Chapter 545 or 546 in the past three years and overdue by-law fines. Licences run for a year from the issue date. One that is not renewed on time is cancelled, and the business has to apply again.

Zoning, distances and caps

Most of the Ontario licences we read are administrative. They require a form, a fee, a health or zoning check and renewal, and the pages we could open show no minimum distance from schools and no cap on the number of shops. Zoning is the one location check:

• Toronto’s vapour retailer page asks for zoning approval on the majority of new applications.
• Mississauga’s application needs a Zoning Certificate of Occupancy, a minor variance or a building permit.
• London’s licence lists approval under the zoning by-law as a requirement.

Hard limits on location appear in British Columbia. The City of Langley’s Zoning Bylaw, 2025, No. 3300 says in section 2.3 that no vapour product store may be located within 400 metres of any other vapour product store. It defines the term as an establishment that primarily sells e-cigarettes, e-substances and cartridges or components. The same list sets 400 metre gaps for pharmacies, thrift stores, body art studios and child care centres. It names no school distance for vapour stores.

West Vancouver proposed a stricter rule. The notice for its 6 May 2024 public hearing on Amendment Bylaw No. 5328 described a rule that would define vape retail and prohibit it in every zone. A later District bylaw lists No. 5328 among the previous amendments to the zoning bylaw, which suggests it passed, but we did not read the adopted wording. For school-distance questions that involve use rather than sales, see vaping near schools.

Who enforces and what a licence can lose

Two bodies are usually involved. Local public health inspects shops under provincial law, and the city’s licensing staff handle the licence itself. Hamilton says its Tobacco Enforcement Officers inspect all places that sell tobacco or vapour products. Toronto’s report says Toronto Public Health inspects while the licensing division can charge a retailer or refer it to the Licensing Tribunal.

The Public Health Ontario table shows how provincial penalties feed into municipal licences. Hamilton and Ottawa revoke a licence if the Ministry of Health issues an automatic prohibition order, and Brampton suspends it automatically for the length of that order. Oakville’s by-law permanently revokes a vaping retailer’s licence on a third Smoke-Free Ontario Act conviction within five years of the first. When Oakville added vapour to its licence in 2021, it said the change would help the town and Halton Region Public Health coordinate enforcement and track non-compliance. It named Toronto, Hamilton and London as cities that already licensed vape retailers.

What this means for a shop owner

Before signing a lease in an Ontario city, ask the licensing office which products need a licence and whether zoning allows a shop at that address. Also ask whether a licence carries over if you buy an existing business. Public Health Ontario lists each licence in the table above as non-transferable, and Toronto’s page treats a takeover of an existing licensed business as a separate case.

What we could not confirm

• Calgary: the city’s page on opening a vaping or tobacco retailer business would not open, so we state nothing about its licences or fees.
• Vancouver: the city’s licence bylaw and staff report pages returned errors, so we state nothing about its rules.
• Ottawa: the city’s own licence pages would not open. The amounts and by-law number above come from the Public Health Ontario table.
• Edmonton, Winnipeg and Victoria: searches turned up no official page showing a municipal tobacco or vape retail licence, and Edmonton’s bylaw page returned an error. A city missing from this page may still have a rule.
• Halifax, Saskatoon and Regina: we checked these cities only for smoking and vaping place rules, not for retail licensing.
• Other B.C. cities: news reports mention vape shop limits in New Westminster, Maple Ridge, Port Coquitlam and the Township of Langley. We found no municipal text we could read, so we do not list them.
• Brampton and Vaughan: the only Brampton licence document we could open predates the current by-law number, so Brampton rests on the Public Health Ontario table. Vaughan’s page returned an error.
• Penalty amounts: no municipal page we read lists a fine for selling without a licence. Hamilton’s page says fines start at $400 without naming the by-law, so we leave the figure out.
• Quebec, the Prairie provinces outside Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and the Atlantic provinces: not checked in enough depth to say anything.