Smoking rates still high in Atlantic Canada: study

New Brunswick and P.E.I. have some of the highest smoking rates in the country.

Health warnings on cigarette packs serve as a stark reminder smoking’s deadly toll, but despite declining national rates, a new study shows smoking remains stubbornly high in parts of Canada – especially in the Maritimes – while a growing shift toward youth vaping raises new concerns.

A recent report by Preszler Injury Lawyers – which used data from Statistics Canada’s 2022 Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine survey – reveals New Brunswick has the highest overall smoking rate in the country at 15.8 per cent, which is well above the national average of 10.9 per cent.

In Prince Edward Island, the rate is 13.1 per cent.

Canadian Cancer Society’s senior policy analyst Robert Cunningham says while fewer Canadians are smoking than in previous decades, the health impacts remain staggering.

“Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of disease and death in every province in Canada,” he said. “Forty-six-thousand Canadians die each year. There are still 3.6 million Canadians who smoke.”

He said lung cancer rates in the Atlantic provinces continue to exceed the national average.

According to the study, Nova Scotia’s overall smoking rate is 12 per cent, but the province stands out for a different reason: it now has the highest youth vaping rates in the country.

Among those aged 20 to 24, 12.8 per cent are smokers – the highest in that age group nationally. For teens aged 15 to 19, the rate is 10.7 per cent, also the highest in Canada for that age range.

Sarah Butson, CEO of the Canadian Lung Association, says aggressive marketing tactics used by vaping companies is the problem.

“We’re seeing those same tactics used in vaping products and it’s part of what makes these products highly appealing,” she said.

Foram Patel, policy specialist with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said vaping was initially marketed as a safer way to help people quit smoking, but the opposite happened.

“Instead of reducing smoking rates at a population level, what it did was skyrocket vaping among young people,” Patel said, who noted it’s never too late to quit. “You can see the benefits of quitting smoking within the first 15 minutes.”