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DIEGO FEDELE\/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 per cent of Grade 7 to 12 students in Manitoba said they had used a vape within a month of being surveyed by Health Canada in 2023-24.<\/p>\n
Banning a revenue stream for corner and convenience stores would unfairly target struggling businesses while ignoring the worst offenders, said Sara MacIntyre, the Western Canada vice-president for the Convenience Industry Council of Canada.<\/p>\n
She pointed to a report from Health Canada published earlier this year that inspected vape retailers across the country and found that while 43 per cent of specialty vaping establishments were found breaking federal guidelines for selling vapes, less than one per cent of inspected gas and convenience stores were found to be non-compliant. Meanwhile, she said, a number of sites sell vapes online with lax age-verification measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our government\u2019s focus on the source of the problem is wrong\u2026 unfortunately, there\u2019s just a plethora of sites that are available online that just deliver directly to people\u2019s homes, and oftentimes they\u2019re available at vape shops,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to really look at if we want to make an impact on access, or do we want to just demonstrate that we\u2019re doing something for a news release.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manitoba lost 14 per cent of its convenience stores between 2020 and 2024, according to the council \u2014 from 947 stores to 814 \u2014 the worst numbers in the country, MacIntyre said.<\/p>\n
A large part of those closures was due to Manitoba\u2019s ongoing battle with contraband tobacco products, which have reduced foot traffic in local corner stores, MacIntyre said. Locking out credible sellers would have a \u201cdownstream impact\u201d on the community at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d have less people coming into our stores, but it also means that there\u2019s not a safe and reliable, credible partner in the community that\u2019s actually selling the products according to how the government has regulated them\u2026. It\u2019s not going to necessarily change the problem, it\u2019ll just change where it\u2019s sourced from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Winnipeg police announced 30 arrests had been made in the largest drug bust in the province\u2019s history. Among the products seized were 1.35 million untaxed cigarettes.<\/p>\n
Contraband vapes are already in Winnipeg, said Food Fare owner Munther Zeid, and Winnipeggers are buying them. He said selling tobacco products has become a \u201cconvenience\u201d product for him \u2014 there\u2019s little money to earn off of the product, but stores will stock it in hopes that people buy other, more profitable items.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve tried it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey brought it in, they guaranteed the sale for us, we didn\u2019t sell any. It\u2019s taking up space for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly 20 per cent of Grade 7 to 12 students in Manitoba said they had used a vape within a month of being surveyed by Health Canada in 2023-24. The national average was 15.5 per cent.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Opposition Leader Obby Khan said he supported the idea but criticized the NDP for bringing the idea forward just days before the legislature is set to break for the summer.<\/p>\n
Any changes to what small retailers are able to sell should come with \u201creasonable\u201d implementation guidelines, said Brianna Solberg, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses\u2019 director for the Prairies and northern Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetailers alone, especially those in that small convenience market, who are already struggling with labour shortages and low consumer demand, they shouldn\u2019t be expected to shoulder this policy change alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf government\u2019s going to introduce new rules, it also needs to provide education, adequate transition time and a consideration of the operational realities facing small retailers.\u201d<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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