Canada's Tobacco Strategy: From the 2001 FTCS to 2035

The Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (FTCS) was Canada’s national tobacco program from 2001 until May 2018, when Canada’s Tobacco Strategy replaced it. The current strategy targets less than 5% tobacco use by 2035. Health Canada committed $330 million over five years from 2018 and $66 million a year afterward, and reports that any tobacco use fell from 29% of Canadians in 2001 to 13% in 2024. Information is current as of 27 October 2026.

What was the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy?

Health Canada launched the FTCS in 2001 and described it as a comprehensive, integrated and sustained approach to reducing tobacco use, led by Health Canada with federal partners. When its funding neared expiry in March 2018, the department called that “an opportunity to modernize the federal approach” and opened a public consultation.

The consultation paper, Seizing the opportunity, was published on 22 February 2017. Public input ran until 13 April 2017, with a National Forum held from 28 February to 2 March. The paper proposed the headline goal that survived into the current plan: less than 5% tobacco use by 2035. It also noted that without new measures prevalence was forecast to fall only from 13% to 9% by 2036, which is why the department argued for a more aggressive target.

What replaced it in 2018?

In May 2018, Canada’s Tobacco Strategy replaced the FTCS, the same month the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act became law (Royal Assent on 23 May 2018; see federal smoking laws). Health Canada’s evaluation lists four themes:

1. Help Canadians quit tobacco.
2. Protect youth and people who do not use tobacco from nicotine addiction.
3. Strengthen science, surveillance and partnerships.
4. Support Indigenous-led approaches to reducing commercial tobacco use.

The evaluation describes the goal as less than 5% by 2035, measured from an 18% baseline in 2017.

How much money is involved?

Item	Amount
Initial commitment (2018 to 2023)	$330 million over five years
Ongoing funding	$66 million per year
Enforcement by Health Canada and other departments	over $14.5 million per year
Transfers to First Nations, Inuit and Metis recipients	about $9.1 million per year
Smoking prevention and cessation initiatives (second legislative review)	about $17 million annually

These are Health Canada figures and they overlap: the enforcement and Indigenous amounts are parts of the larger envelope, not additions to it.

Is the strategy meeting its goals?

Health Canada’s 2025 results report gives the headline numbers:

• Any tobacco use dropped from 29% in 2001 to 13% in 2024; 11% of adults reported smoking in 2024.
• Retailer compliance with the tobacco law rose from 69% in 2019 to 90% in 2025.
• Youth vaping (12 to 17) fell to 6% in 2024, below the target of 10% by 2025, and youth smoking is under 2%. The youth and tobacco page has the survey detail.

Health Canada’s own evaluation of 2016-17 to 2020-21 is more cautious. It found a 92% average compliance rate among inspected tobacco retailers and 95% among manufacturers, but that 83% of inspected specialty vaping stores did not fully comply in 2019-20. It also reported that resources had shifted toward vaping, that Health Canada’s IT systems were outdated, and that stakeholders lacked a clear integrated plan for the 2035 goal. It made four recommendations: share the action plan with partners, upgrade data systems, examine how resources are split between tobacco and vaping, and update the website’s vaping content.

Why does the strategy matter outside government?

Because it sets the numbers other policies are judged against: higher taxes (see tobacco taxation in Canada), flavour and packaging rules, and Canada’s treaty commitments under the WHO Framework Convention. For the longer history of federal measures read the history of tobacco control in Canada.