Which Places Ban the Sale of Tobacco and Vapes in Canada?

Federal law bans tobacco and vape sales in very few places. The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act deals with dispensing devices and with delivery to young people, and it leaves the list of off-limits premises to the provinces and territories. Those lists differ, and pharmacies appear in six of the ones we could read. This page gives each jurisdiction’s own wording, grouped by type of place, from statutes and government pages read on 31 October 2026. The distance rules around schools are in vaping near schools in Canada, and permits are in how to get a tobacco retail permit by province.

Pharmacies and stores that contain one

This is the most common ban. Alberta bars selling or offering tobacco or vaping products “at a pharmacy”, and also “at a retail store” if a pharmacy is in it or customers can enter it directly or by a connecting corridor (s. 7.3(c) and (d)). Manitoba’s section 6.3 names a pharmacy and an establishment where a pharmacy is located or directly connected. Prince Edward Island’s section 4.1 does the same and defines a pharmacy as a retail drug store serving the general public. The Northwest Territories uses nearly the same words in section 6(2).

Newfoundland and Labrador goes a step further. Its pharmacy definition includes a kiosk that gives direct access to a pharmacist, and a store that has such a kiosk inside it.

Saskatchewan says no one may sell tobacco, vapour products or related products in a pharmacy or in a store with a pharmacy in it or connected to it. A store that wants to keep selling must build a separate retail area that pharmacy customers can reach only through a separate exterior door. The page lists a $500 fine for selling in prohibited places, pharmacies included.

British Columbia’s list in section 2.1 does not name pharmacies, and Ontario’s retailer page does not either. We could not confirm from their own texts whether a pharmacy ban applies there.

Hospitals and other health facilities

• Alberta: a health facility in which regulated health professionals provide services (s. 7.3(a)).
• British Columbia: land or a building used primarily for a hospital or other health care services (s. 2.1(1)(a)).
• Manitoba: a health care facility (s. 6.3(a)).
• Prince Edward Island: a hospital, any part of a building where health care services are provided, and licensed nursing homes.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: Provincial Health Authority facilities, personal care homes, long term care homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
• Northwest Territories: a hospital insurance facility or its grounds.
• Saskatchewan: its vapour retailer page lists facilities of the provincial health authority, health facilities, special-care homes, mental health facilities and community clinics.

Ontario’s retailer page does not address health facilities.

Post-secondary campuses

Ontario’s page says tobacco and vapour products cannot be sold in areas of a university or college that are owned or leased by the institution or student union, or used for student education, recreation or housing. British Columbia’s section 2.1(1)(b) covers “the campus of a public university or other public post-secondary institution”. Alberta’s section 7.3(b) is similar for a public post-secondary campus as defined in its Post-secondary Learning Act.

Newfoundland and Labrador names Memorial University, colleges and private training institutions. Prince Edward Island covers buildings, or parts of buildings, owned or occupied by a post-secondary institution, and names the University of Prince Edward Island, Holland College and private training schools. Saskatchewan’s vapour list and Manitoba’s section 6.3 do not name campuses. The Northwest Territories list names schools, not colleges.

Schools

Selling inside a school is banned in Saskatchewan for vapour products (a school or independent school), in Newfoundland and Labrador (a school under its Schools Act) and in the Northwest Territories (a school or its grounds). That is a rule about the sale, which is separate from the distance and vaping-use rules described on the schools page linked above.

Government, recreation and public buildings

British Columbia bars sales in a building owned or leased by a public body and used mainly for athletics or recreation, and in a building owned or leased by the government or a Crown corporation or agency. Newfoundland and Labrador adds buildings of the province, its agencies, Crown corporations and municipalities, along with recreational facilities, theatres and cinemas, libraries, art galleries, museums, amusement parks and video or games arcades. Prince Edward Island lists government, municipal, Health PEI and education authority buildings, plus bowling alleys, fitness centres, gymnasiums, pools, rinks, theatres, video arcades and amusement parks. The Northwest Territories names health clubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools, ice rinks and other sport, fitness or recreational facilities. Saskatchewan’s vapour list adds provincial, Crown corporation and municipal buildings, video arcades, amusement parks and theatres.

In British Columbia the owner and manager can answer for a sale made by someone else. Section 2.1(2) says each manager, owner and lessee of the place is deemed to have contravened the section, and subsection (3) gives them a defence if they took reasonable care and diligence.

Vending machines

The federal Act, in section 12, bars furnishing a tobacco product through a dispensing device, with two exceptions: a place the public does not reasonably have access to, and a bar, tavern or beverage room where the device has a prescribed security mechanism. The section names tobacco products only.

Provinces go further. Alberta lists “a vending machine” as a prohibited place (s. 7.3(f)). Manitoba’s section 6.4 bars a vending machine for these products in any place a person owns or occupies. Prince Edward Island’s section 5 says the same. The Northwest Territories bars a machine that dispenses a tobacco product, vapour product or accessory in any public place or place the public can access. Newfoundland and Labrador allows vapour machines only where the public does not reasonably have access or in a premises licensed under its Liquor Control Act that prohibits minors.

British Columbia is different. Section 2.1 does not mention vending machines, and its tobacco tax page says a Tobacco Retail Authorization is needed for each location that sells taxable tobacco, including vending machines. The five-metre rule that Saskatchewan sets for machines in adult-only premises is described in vape retailer rules in Canada.

Temporary and mobile outlets

Alberta bars sales “at any temporary or mobile outlets or premises”. Newfoundland and Labrador bars a temporary facility, which it defines as premises set up with a fair, circus, concert, festival, civic event or another event lasting no longer than 7 consecutive days.

Online, mail and delivery

Federal section 9(1) says no person shall send or deliver a tobacco product or vaping product to a young person, so a courier order to someone under 18 is covered along with a counter sale. Nunavut is the one jurisdiction we read that also regulates how a retail sale is delivered. Section 13(1) of its Tobacco and Smoking Act allows tobacco to be sold at retail only where the buyer receives it at the time of purchase at a permanent physical retail establishment, so internet orders and home delivery of tobacco are not allowed. Section 13(2) allows vapour products and herbal shisha to be sold the same way or by any method that ensures at least 24 hours between the order and the delivery, so an online vapour order delivered after that delay fits the Act’s wording. The territory’s plain-language guide is broader. It lists selling via the internet and home delivery of tobacco and alternative nicotine products as against the law, together with single cigarette sales, flavoured tobacco and sales to anyone under 19, and does not mention the 24-hour option. We follow the Act, but a vapour seller should confirm with the territory before shipping, because the consolidation we read is current to 31 May 2023. The other government pages and statutes we read say nothing about online sales, so check the rules of your own province before shipping. Ordering from the buyer’s side is covered in buying vapes online in Canada.

Electronic devices only in tobacconist shops

Prince Edward Island has a separate rule. Section 4.2 says no person shall sell an electronic smoking device except in a tobacconist shop, a term the Act defines as premises whose primary business is the retail sale of tobacco or electronic smoking devices, or both.

What it costs to get it wrong

Two jurisdictions gave amounts for selling in a banned place. Alberta’s enforcement page lists a $500 to $750 fine for selling a tobacco or vaping product in a prohibited location. Saskatchewan lists $500. The permit consequences are in the permit guide, and the wider penalty picture is in selling to minors.

What we could not confirm

• Ontario: only the post-secondary rule is on the retailer page. The e-Laws site would not load, so we could not read the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 for pharmacies, hospitals or vending machines. Saskatchewan’s page says Ontario already bans pharmacy tobacco sales, but that is Saskatchewan’s statement about another province.
• Quebec, New Brunswick and Yukon: the government sites returned access errors.
• Nova Scotia: the legislature and justice sites refused connections, so we state nothing about its no-sale places.
• Saskatchewan: the Act’s own list for tobacco is not on any page we read beyond pharmacies. The legislation page says “other places”, and the detailed list we read is written for vapour products.
• Prescribed places: most statutes above allow regulations to add places (British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories). We did not read those regulations.
• British Columbia and Ontario pharmacy rules, as noted above.
• Online and mail sales in every province except Nunavut.
• Nunavut vapour delivery: the Act allows a 24-hour delay between order and delivery, while the government guide calls internet and home delivery of nicotine products unlawful. We follow the Act, and the guide may reflect a later amendment we did not see.