The UCP is launching a review of Alberta’s Tobacco Act with the aim of regulating vaping in the province.
The province said the current legislation doesn’t specifically address vaping or the use of hookah and water pipes in public and workplaces.
MLA Jeremy Nixon will lead the review, with the ultimate goal of establishing “evidence-based” regulation of vaping products.
“We want to see smoking rates come down,” Nixon said in a news release.
The government will be consulting experts as part of the review, along with gathering feedback from Albertans on what they think the new policies should look like.
“I’m concerned about the rising use of vaping products, especially among young people, and recent reports of severe lung disease associated with these products,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said.
The review will begin by Nov. 1 and is expected to be complete by the end of the year. The hope is that new amendments to the Tobacco Act will be in place by spring 2020.
There has been a series of vaping-related deaths and illnesses in the U.S. that led to a push from President Donald Trump to completely ban flavoured e-cigarettes in the country.
The Alberta government will be releasing more information in the coming weeks on how Albertans can submit their input on the review.
While vaping-related acute severe lung illness was added to the province’s Public Health Act on Sept. 5, there have been no cases reported in Alberta to date.
WATCH BELOW: As concern in the United States grows over a mysterious respiratory illness linked to vaping, Alberta is set to become the only province in Canada with no vaping regulations. Blake Lough reports.