Summary
Parliament recently passed Bill S-5, An Act to amend the
Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers' Health Act and to make
consequential amendments to other Acts (the
"Bill"). The Bill provides the
legislative foundation for implementing standardized packaging
requirements for tobacco products in Canada.
Background
In the Minister of Health Mandate Letter dated
November 12, 2015, the Minister was tasked by the Trudeau
government with "introduce[ing] plain packaging requirements
for tobacco products, similar to those in Australia and the United
Kingdom." The Bill is a manifestation of that mandate.
New Bill
While the Bill does not itself set out the specific requirements
for plain packaging of tobacco products, it amends the Tobacco
Act (renamed the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act by
the Bill) to permit the implementation of a new regulatory
framework that requires plain packaging of tobacco products in
Canada. By way of example, new regulations could require
