In November 2020, the Official Opposition presented An Act to Amend the Tobacco and Electronic Cigarette Sales Act (Bill 17) that would prohibit the sale of flavoured e-liquids used for vaping. While Government has recently tabled a bill under the same name, the Liberal Opposition believes this bill does not do enough to combat youth vaping.

“The youth vaping issue in New Brunswick needs to be addressed as soon as possible through concrete measures and real actions” says Jean-Claude D’Amours, Liberal Opposition critic for Health. “Similar to changes we’ve made to sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products over the years, we need to make vaping less attractive to people under 19 years of age.”

In recent years, vaping has become very popular amongst young people mainly due to the large variety of flavours available.

“We know it is the flavourful e-liquids used for vaping that are attracting young people to these products. They are inhaling a vapour that tastes like strawberries or donuts without truly realizing that they are consuming significant amounts of nicotine and doing permanent damage to their lungs” says D’Amours. “If passed, our bill would prohibit the sale of flavoured e-liquids. This simple step could prevent many young New Brunswickers from trying these products in the first place and would hopefully help some quit vaping altogether.”

Since Opposition parties can only bring their bills for debate on Thursday, Mr. D’Amours plans on bringing this bill for second reading on Thursday May 20.

“The Canadian Cancer Society has expressed their support for this bill” says Roger Melanson, Leader of the Official Opposition. “This is a very simple bill that I believe we can all agree upon. I hope every member of the Legislative Assembly votes in favour of this bill for the health of our younger generations.”