Can I Vape in Canada as a Tourist? Rules to Know

The short version

Nothing in Canadian law gives tourists a pass, and nothing singles them out. If a rule bans smoking or vaping in a place, it bans it for you. Rules come from three levels, and the one closest to the street usually decides: the province or territory sets the baseline, and a city can go further.

Indoors: off limits almost everywhere

Every province and territory we checked bans smoking and vaping in enclosed public places and workplaces. Ontario bans both in enclosed workplaces and enclosed public places. British Columbia says people cannot smoke or vape inside indoor public places or workplaces. Saskatchewan’s ban covers any part of a building or other enclosed place or conveyance. Nunavut covers public buildings, workplaces and work vehicles, and the Northwest Territories bans smoking in any place the public has access to.

Treat bars, restaurants, shops, malls, offices and public transit as no-go zones indoors.

Patios, parks and doorways

This is where it gets local.

• Ontario bans smoking and vaping on bar and restaurant patios and in public areas within 9 metres of them, with a limited exception for certain older patios.
• British Columbia allows use on an outdoor hospitality patio only inside a buffer zone and only when no open windows, doors or active air intakes connect it to the venue.
• Toronto parks: a city by-law that came into force on 2 March 2026 bans smoking and vaping within a 20-metre radius of listed amenities and areas in a park.

For other cities use the rules-by-city database, the doorway rules page, or the guide to outdoor smoking bans.

Cars and rentals

If you rent a car, the child-passenger rules apply to you. Ontario bans smoking tobacco or vaping when anyone aged 15 or younger is in the vehicle, with fines of $1,000 for a first conviction and $5,000 for later ones. British Columbia treats smoking or vaping in a personal vehicle with someone under 16 inside as a Motor Vehicle Act violation. See smoking in cars for the other provinces.

Buying tobacco or vapes as a visitor

The federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act makes it an offence to furnish a tobacco or vaping product to anyone under 18. Provinces and territories then set their own ages: 18 in Alberta and Manitoba, 19 in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The full table is on the legal smoking age page.

Expect to be asked for ID. In the Northwest Territories, for example, anyone who looks under 25 must show it. We did not find an official list of identity documents that stores must accept from foreign visitors, so carry your passport rather than a photocopy.

What a ticket can cost

Federal ticketable fines under the Act are set in Schedule XIV of the Contraventions Regulations, replaced by SOR/2026-11 on 30 January 2026. They target sellers and promoters, for example $2,000 for furnishing a tobacco or vaping product to a young person. The fines a visitor is more likely to meet are provincial or municipal, and they depend on the place. Our fines guide collects the confirmed figures.

Bringing your own supply

You can carry tobacco and vaping products into Canada within the visitor limits if you declare them. The border page has the numbers and explains what happens to undeclared goods. If you plan to vape in the air, read vaping on a plane first.