'Stay the hell away from our kids': Feds propose new restrictions on nicotine pouches
The federal Liberals are looking to introduce new restrictions on nicotine pouches, Health Minister Mark Holland announced Wednesday, saying it is part of an effort to keep addictive products out of the hands of young Canadians.
"We're seeing a whole new cohort of young people being addicted to these products," Holland said. "I would say to the tobacco companies … stay the hell away from our kids."
First approved for Canadian markets last year, nicotine pouches are a tobacco-less product designed to help smokers quit. Placed between the gum and cheek in a user's mouth, the pouches release the addictive chemical also found in cigarettes, vape products and chewing tobacco, offering an alternative way to satisfy cravings.
As of this month, only one brand of nicotine pouch, Imperial Tobacco Canada's Zonnic, is approved for sale in Canada. A Health Canada advisory last updated Wednesday notes that, at four milligrams per dose, nicotine pouches are typically recommended for adults smoking 25 or more cigarettes per day.
"Nicotine pouches are authorized only to help adults quit smoking," the advisory reads. "They should not be used recreationally, by nonsmokers, by people under the age of 18, or by others at risk of nicotine's toxic effects"
Dark corners, iron walls
Holland clarified in his remarks Wednesday that he doesn't oppose innovation in the tobacco industry and welcomes the introduction of products to help wean smokers off of nicotine. It's what he sees as the marketing of those products to non-users of nicotine, including young people, he said, which has pressed him to act.
"We want to see products that are going to get people off of nicotine, and off of tobacco," he said.
"When it comes to innovating in the space of cessation, I celebrate that and want to see more of it. But that isn't what happened. The tobacco industry, yet again, used a loophole, to try to create innovation in the space of cessation to get people off of these products, to create a brand new line of products that addicts, particularly kids, to products that are deadly for their health."
Described as coming "imminently," the proposed restrictions include new federal regulations on how the products are marketed and sold, complementing steps already taken provincially in British Columbia and Quebec, where pouches must be sold in pharmacies.
Another planned restriction is to limit the sale of flavoured pouches.
"We shouldn't be seeing flavours that are targeting kids," Holland said. "Flavours like winter-berry splash or … tropical fruit, whatever, that they're putting out there; we all see through it."
The minister's remarks echoed the concerns around the rise in vaping among youth seen across Canada in recent years. Invoking his prior work during that time at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the minister said he is looking to prevent a pattern from repeating.
"Whatever dark corner the tobacco industry crawls and creeps into to go after our children … they will meet me like an iron wall," Holland said, his voice rising. "I'm sick of it … it's done."
'They're not using Zonnic': Imperial
In a press conference the same day, Eric Gagnon of Imperial Tobacco Canada said that Holland's allegation of leveraging a loophole "couldn't be further from the truth."
Gagnon noted that Zonnic underwent a yearslong approval process with regulators, and that Imperial maintains its own safeguards to protect kids beyond its legal obligations, including enforcing age verification at the point of sale.
"If kids are using nicotine pouches in Canada, they're not using Zonnic," Gagnon, Imperial's vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs, told reporters Wednesday. "If a store sells Zonnic products and it's not age-verified, and we're made aware of it, we remove the product, immediately."
Gagnon said the company's products are solely for adults, and that their marketing is developed in consultation with the federal government.
Regarding flavour options, he said while Imperial would comply with any forthcoming restrictions, it is their position that limiting pouches to flavours like menthol or simulated tobacco is not the right direction to go in.
"Kids can still go in stores now and buy nicotine gums or nicotine lozenges," Gagnon said. "That's the real loophole in what's happening in the [nicotine-replacement therapy] space today."
Gagnon said regulators have targeted Imperial even though it has launched efforts to prevent the improper use of its products.
"We're aligned with most of what the minister said today," he said. "The measures that he wants to take – we're fully aligned with him. The only thing we're asking is that he needs to stop singling out Imperial Tobacco Canada. We were approved by his department."
IN DEPTH
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6922467.1718138898!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6850735.1713368648!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are 'standing and intact,' including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank experiences direct deposit outage on payday
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Justin Timberlake's attorney disputes he was intoxicated when arrested for DWI
A hearing in the case of Justin Timberlake being accused of driving while intoxicated was held Friday, where an attorney for the singer disputed his arrest in June.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
Reported rate of child pornography increased 52% in 2023, total crime up 3%: Statistics Canada
Last year, reported child pornography cases increased by more than 50 per cent in Canada, in part due to more cases being sent to police by specialized internet child exploitation units, according to a Statistics Canada report.
Driver charged after flashing high beams at approaching police
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
Local Spotlight
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978272.1721953528!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'She led it the whole way': 18-year-old B.C. woman leads hikers to safety in Jasper National Park
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
'There's mom and dad's house': New video appears to show destruction of Jasper neighbourhood
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
Sask. Second World War veteran, 103, receives France's highest national order
A Saskatchewan-born veteran of the Second World War was recently presented with France's highest national order.
Former First Nations chief voices Disney's first Ojibwe language Star Wars movie
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
Ottawa Humane Society reunites Montreal family with cat missing for 8 years
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
Waterloo, Ont. woman out thousands after car totalled in hit-and-run
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
'It looks scary, but they're harmless': Bees removed from Winnipeg street light
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
'Powerful symbol of the progress we have made': Land being returned to Manitoba Métis Federation
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Cape Breton moose hunting suspended for 3 years due to 'significant' drop in population
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.