The Minister of Mental Health and Addictions says the federal government will soon ban most vaping flavors across Canada – more than three years after Ottawa first promised to introduce regulations.

“We made a commitment from the beginning to restrict flavors. We have not deviated from that commitment,” Ya’ara Saks told CBC News last week.

“We’ll have that up and running soon. I don’t think it will take much longer.” She did not specify a timetable.

The Saks promise comes next a coalition of anti-tobacco health groups held a press conference in Ottawa earlier this month to demand Saks quickly introduce the ban or resign.

They accused her of bowing to pressure from the vaping industry by failing to finalize the regulations this spring. as the federal government had planned.

WATCH | The minister says she is not “slowly” banning vape flavors:

Addictions minister says she’s not ‘walking slow’ on national ban on vaping flavors

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks speaks with CBC News’ Marina von Stackelberg about how Ottawa wants to learn from Quebec’s experience banning flavored vaping products before introducing national restrictions. The federal government promised this ban more than three years ago.

In June 2021, citing a “rapid increase in youth vaping in Canada,” Health Canada committed to restricting vaping flavors with mint, menthol and tobacco.

“The availability of a variety of desirable flavors is believed to have contributed to the increase in vaping among youth,” Health Canada said at the time, pointing to research showing that youth are more likely to start vaping with fruity and sweet flavors.

Three years after this warning, Canada has now one of the highest rates of vaping among teenagers in the world; Statistics Canada reports that almost half of all young adults have tried vaping. Most new vaping users — 86 per cent — have never smoked cigarettes, according to the most recent Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey.

“We know that young people are now being exposed first to vaping,” Saks said.

While Ottawa has spent the past three years consulting on regulations, six provinces and territories have introduced their own flavor bans: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Quebec.

Saks said the delay in national regulations is because Health Canada wants to learn from Quebec’s experience. This province banned the flavors a year ago.

“We have seen this in jurisdictions like Quebec, where banning flavors has led to an accessible illicit market,” she said. “So as we move forward in this area, we want to make sure we get it right.”

The federal government wants to ensure the regulations will be enforceable and not inadvertently encourage clandestine sales of flavored vapes, she said.

“Just to be clear, there is no such thing as slow walking,” Saks said. “It’s about what lessons can we learn right now?”

WATCH | Anti-tobacco groups call on the minister to ban flavored vapes or resign:

Anti-tobacco groups call on drug minister to ban flavored vapes or resign

National anti-tobacco and health groups are calling on the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions to resign after failing to regulate vaping flavors that appeal to children, after three years of promises to do so.

But Flory Doucas, co-director of the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, said the emerging illicit market in Quebec is the very reason the flavors now need to be banned nationally.

Currently, customers in Quebec can easily order Health Canada-approved flavored vaping products from a retailer operating in a province that does not have a ban.

“The argument… for delaying regulation because there are problems in the provinces is pretty strong, because the federal framework has made it very easy for industry to get around those provincial regulations,” Doucas said.

Doucas said the nicotine and vaping industry is moving quickly to find loopholes in the new restrictions, but that shouldn’t be a reason for the federal government to wait that long.

“We are dealing with an industry that has been successful in stalling and delaying enforcement of these regulations,” Doucas said.

The vaping industry held its own press conference in Ottawa last week to ask Saks not to ban the flavors.

Adult smokers rely on vaping as a less harmful option than cigarettes and appealing flavors make it easier to switch, said Sam Tam, president of the Canadian Vaping Association.

“A blanket flavor ban will do absolutely nothing to protect Canadians, especially our youth,” he said.

Saks has remained relatively silent so far on Ottawa’s plans to ban the flavors. Health Minister Mark Holland has openly criticized nicotine sachets and banned the sale of fruity flavored sachets less than a year after they hit the shelves.

Saks said the fact that vaping has been around much longer makes regulating it more difficult.

“The (nicotine pouch) market is a newer market that Minister Holland managed to stifle before it proliferated,” Saks said. “Vaping products have been around for quite a long time. And we’ve also seen changes in the market.

“I am seized of this matter. We want this to be made public as quickly as possible.”

WATCH | Vaping is more difficult to regulate than nicotine pouches, says minister:

Vaping harder to regulate than new nicotine products, minister says

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks speaks with CBC News’ Marina von Stackelberg about why the federal government is still trying to ban vaping flavors more than three years after promised to do so – but managed to ban nicotine pouch flavors in less than a year.