The Ontario Ministry of Health will be holding a press conference Wednesday to go over its just-released report detailing its recommendations as to how to modernize the province’s ‘smoke-free’ strategy.
The report, created by the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) — established by Ontario’s Health Minister Eric Hoskins in spring 2017 — outlines a comprehensive 10-year smoke-free Ontario strategy.
Ontario has cut smoking rates by almost a third over the past 20 years, but it is still the single greatest cause of “avoidable disease and premature death in the province,” according to the report.
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Smoking kills about 13,000 Ontarians each year and the Smoke-Free Ontario Scientific Advisory Committee estimates that tobacco costs the province $7.5 billion in direct health ($2.2 billion) and other indirect costs, such as lost income and productivity ($5.3 billion).
The 10-year strategy put forth by the ESC and the Ministry of Health has a number of targets, including increasing the number of people who quit smoking successfully from 45,000 to more than 80,000 a year, reduce the smoking-related health costs by $4.1 billion by 2023 and an end-goal of less than five per cent of Ontarians smoking by 2035.
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This “tobacco endgame” is strongly supported by the public, including even by Ontarians who smoke.
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According to the report:
- Sixty-six per cent of Ontarians agree that the number of retail tobacco outlets should be decreased
- Fifty-five per cent support the notion that tobacco not be sold at all or should only be sold in government-owned stores
- Fifty-three per cent agree that the sale of cigarettes should stop as soon as possible or be phased out over 5 to 10 years
- Over 80 per cent of Canadian smokers support raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21
The report indicates five key strategic directions to make this smoke-free Ontario happen:
- Challenge and contain the tobacco industry
- Motivate and support many more Ontarians who smoke to quit and stay quit
- Keep more Ontarians from starting to smoke
- Expand policies that prevent exposure to secondhand smoke and harmful aerosol from vaped products
- Create a strong enabling system to execute the strategy
“The tobacco endgame is within our grasp,” the report said. “Within 20 years — in just one generation — Ontario could stop the devastation caused by tobacco and other harmful inhaled substances.”
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The press conference will be held at 9:30 a.m.
The committee will discuss the findings of the report and its recommendations, which “require comprehensive action across 10 ministries including the Premier’s office.”
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