Require retailers who sell vaping products to hold a liquor license? This is what a group of more than 5,000 convenience stores in Quebec, including the Couche-Tard and Petro-Canada chains, is arguing with the Legault government, we learned. The PressThis change could jeopardize the very existence of hundreds of specialty stores.
The Canadian Convenience Industry Council (CCIC) sees it as a “pragmatic measure” to remedy the “glaring injustice” suffered by its members who comply with the ban on fragrances in vaping products, in effect since October 31.
In the wake of the new regulations, hundreds of vape shops have registered as convenience stores to be able to admit minors into their establishment and extend their offering to sweets and sugary drinks.
Many took the opportunity to display on the shelves a myriad of “flavor enhancers” with fruit and dessert flavors, he observed. The Press in January. These flavored liquids can be added to nicotine bases intended for e-cigarettes.
“The new requirement for an alcohol permit appears to be a fair, simple and effective solution to put an end to the delinquent practices of certain vaping shops,” wrote the CCID to the national director of public health, Luc Boileau, as well as to the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, in a letter sent in anticipation of the parliamentary session and obtained by The Press.
“On the one hand, 5,000 convenience stores scrupulously comply with the new regulations, while on the other, around 400 specialist shops continue to sell flavours with impunity, without inspectors being able to intervene effectively,” the organisation laments.
Convenience stores and grocery stores that obtain a liquor permit from the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ) are required to ensure they have at least $5,500 in food. This food must be varied and represent at least 51% of the products offered on display.
An unequal market
In interview with The PressMichel Gadbois, vice-president of the Canadian Convenience Industry Council, estimates that sales of vaping product-related brands have dropped by 20 to 50% since the new regulations.
It is very difficult, we are losing customers, but there is a relatively simple solution. We all want to be treated equally, and with a single article of the RACJ, we can impose the same regulations and the same surveillance on everyone.
Michel Gadbois, Vice-President of the Canadian Convenience Industry Council
Gadbois said the situation with youth vaping is worse now than it was before the new flavor laws, in part because customers are being pushed to concoct their own blends. “It’s frustrating and absurd,” he said. “You’re putting in place a regulation that you can’t enforce.”
Minister Christian Dubé’s office declined to comment on the CCID’s proposal. Press attaché Audrey Noiseux emphasized that inspections are continuing, as is the analysis of files by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, to ensure compliance with regulations.
“In light of the analysis of the files, if additional measures need to be put in place, they will be,” she said by email, specifying that “circumventing the law prohibiting flavors in products intended to be vaped is unacceptable and very worrying.”
In April, the Alliance of Quebec Vaping Shops (ABVQ) supported in an interview with The Press that the detractors of vape shops converted into convenience stores were targeting the wrong people. “What affects tobacco shops and convenience stores are online sales outside the province,” said its spokesperson, David Lévesque.