The Yukon government plans to replace the Smoke-Free Places Act with modern legislation addressing vaping and raising the minimum age for the purchase of tobacco and vapour products.

Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost tabled the enabling legislation Monday.

“I am proud of the work our government is doing to protect the health of young Yukoners,” Frost said in a release.

“(The legislation is) part of our ongoing efforts to discourage the use of these addictive and harmful products.”

Bill No. 3, the Tobacco and Vaping Products Control and Regulation Act, proposes raising the minimum legal age for access to tobacco and vapour products to 19 years old. The age in the Yukon is currently 18.

The legislation also addresses how vapour products must be sold, used and promoted.

When the Smoke-Free Places Act came into effect in 2008, e-cigarettes and vaping did not have today’s prevalence, making this all-new legislation for the Yukon.

The legislation prohibits smoking and vaping in public places. Those include group living facilities and restaurants, schools, patios, public vehicles and vehicles in which there is a young person.

Yukoners would also be prohibited from smoking or vaping within five metres of a doorway, window or air intake of an enclosed place where smoking or vaping are prohibited.

These prohibitions have been updated from the Smoke-Free Places Act to include vaping and vapour products.

The legislation also prohibits the sale of flavoured tobacco and flavoured vaping products. Edible confections designed to resemble a tobacco product, like candy cigars, are prohibited.

Tobacco and vaping products are also prohibited from sale in pharmacies. As well, products must be hidden from display at tobacco retailers.

Business managers are prohibited from selling tobacco and vaping products to youth and similarly cannot promote the sale of tobacco products in their stores.

The bill was drafted after a round of public consultation asking Yukoners how legislation should be adjusted to account for vaping. The survey was completed by 477 participants last spring.

The public survey resulted in 86 per cent of respondents agreeing the government should prioritize limiting youths’ access to vaping products.

Fifty per cent of respondents agreed that access to vapour products should be supported for adults trying to quit smoking.

Forty-nine per cent of respondents agreed with changing the minimum age for vapour product purchase to 19 years old. Twenty-four per cent supported raising the age to 21.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents agreed that either some or all flavoured vapour products should be banned.

In an interview with the Star last Thursday, Premier Sandy Silver said the legislation will provide a much-needed update to the territory’s current legislation.

“It’s a focus on protecting public health, especially when it comes to youth,” Silver said.

The Yukon is following suit with provincial governments on vaping legislation. Both the Alberta and Nova Scotia governments announced reviews of their smoking and tobacco laws last Wednesday.

At the end of September, the B.C. government said it plans to reduce the number of vendors licensed to sell e-cigarettes.

The country-wide movement toward legislation on vaping comes after an outbreak of lung injuries associated with e-cigarettes topped 1,000 cases in the United States this year.

In a media release, the Yukon government addressed vaping as causing nicotine addiction, negatively impacting brain development in youth. The release concedes that “the long-term consequences of vaping are unknown.”