Take Action and Protect Saskatchewan Kids

Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

We, the undersigned residents of the Province of Saskatchewan, wish to bring to your attention the following:

Saskatchewan’s youth smoking rates are consistently among the highest, if not THE highest in Canada. The most recent data from Statistics Canada found that 15 to 19-year-olds in Saskatchewan are smoking at nearly three times the national average, 22% vs 8%. This is not an anomaly. The latest Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Survey shows that 21% of grade 10-12 students in Saskatchewan smoke¹, and in 2016 the provincial SAYCW Youth Health Survey found 19% of Grade 11 and 12 students smoke². We believe that with 9 simple and proven effective changes, we can curb teen tobacco product consumption in the province.

We, in the prayer that reads as follows, respectfully request that the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan:

1. Ban all flavours in tobacco products.
2. Adopt legislation on e-cigarettes to ban sales to minors; ban the use of vaping products anywhere smoking is banned; prohibit the retail promotion and display of e-cigarettes though with an exception for specialty vape stores; limit where they can be sold; and prohibit e-cigarette sales in places where tobacco sales are banned.
3. Broaden outdoor smoke-free places to include patios, sports fields, children’s playgrounds, beaches, provincial parks, construction sites, university/college campuses, hospital grounds, and building entrances/exits.
4. Prohibit the sale of tobacco products in more locations, including athletic and recreational facilities, bars and restaurants, university/college campuses, within a specified distance of elementary and secondary schools, government buildings, and in outdoor/temporary/movable locations.
5. Prohibit all hookah (water pipe) smoking wherever smoking is banned in public places.
6. Set a minimum age of 21 for tobacco and electronic-cigarettes.
7. Increase taxes on all tobacco products and index tax rates annually to inflation.
8. Require tobacco retailers to have a license with an applicable annual fee.
9. Implement a cost recovery fee on tobacco manufacturers/suppliers based on market share in the province in order to reimburse the Saskatchewan government for the annual costs of the provincial tobacco control strategy.