Federal Smoking Laws in Canada Explained

Who sets which rules

Canada divides the job. The federal government regulates tobacco and vaping products: what they can contain, how they are packaged and labelled, how they can be promoted and who they can be sold to. Provinces and territories regulate where people can smoke and vape in most everyday places, and many set a higher minimum age than the federal rule. Cities add bylaws for parks, patios and doorways.

That is why a rule can differ between Calgary and Toronto while the packaging on a pack is the same everywhere. For the provincial detail see smoking and vaping laws by province.

The Tobacco and Vaping Products Act

The Act (S.C. 1997, c. 13) was assented to on 25 April 1997 as the Tobacco Act. Bill S-5 (S.C. 2018, c. 9) received Royal Assent on 23 May 2018 and renamed it the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act, creating a federal regime for vaping products. Justice Laws shows the Act current to 30 September 2026, last amended on 20 June 2024.

Key points for readers:

• Minimum age. It is an offence to furnish a tobacco product or a vaping product to a young person, defined as a person under 18. Health Canada’s second legislative review report notes that provinces and territories can set a higher age, and that six provinces and three territories use 19 and one province uses 21 for tobacco. See the legal smoking age guide.
• Menthol and flavours. Schedule 1 prohibits flavouring additives in cigarettes, little cigars, blunt wraps and certain cigars, with exceptions such as products made for export. Menthol was prohibited in cigarettes, blunt wraps and most cigars from 2 October 2017 (SOR/2017-45), and Health Canada stated that a total prohibition of menthol in tobacco products took effect on 19 November 2018.
• Plain and standardized packaging. The Tobacco Products Regulations (Plain and Standardized Appearance), SOR/2019-107, were published in Canada Gazette, Part II, on 1 May 2019. Most requirements for cigarettes and little cigars came into force on 9 November 2019, and full implementation, including at retail, occurred on 9 February 2022.
• Warnings on cigarettes. Health warnings printed directly on individual cigarettes took effect on 1 August 2023, with king size cigarettes required to carry them by the end of July 2024 and regular size by the end of April 2025. See the warning labels guide.
• Vaping. Under SOR/2021-123, a vaping product must not contain nicotine above 20 mg/mL; the regulations came into force on 8 July 2021. The Act also restricts promoting vaping products by indications or illustrations of five flavour categories listed in Schedule 3: confectionery, dessert, cannabis, soft drink and energy drink. More in the vaping laws guide.

The Non-smokers’ Health Act

This Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 15 (4th Supp.)) was assented to on 28 June 1988 and came into force on 29 December 1989. Its long title is “An Act to regulate smoking in the federal workplace and on certain modes of transportation.”

It remains in force. Justice Laws shows it current to 30 September 2026 and last amended on 17 October 2018. It applies to work spaces in the federal workplace and to certain Canadian-operated aircraft, trains, motor vehicles and vessels travelling between Canada and another country. It does not cover commuter passenger trains run by a province or carriers operated by foreign companies.

What federal law does not do

The federal Acts do not ban smoking in restaurants, bars, parks, apartment buildings or private cars. Those rules come from provincial laws and local bylaws, which is why the rules-by-city database exists.

Duty on tobacco

Tobacco is also subject to federal excise duty, which is adjusted every 1 April. From 1 April 2026 the duty on stamped cigarettes is $0.97299 per 5 cigarettes. See cigarette prices and tobacco taxes for how it adds up.