Canadian Government Releases New Strategic Plan on Tobacco Control.

The Canadian Government has released its new Strategic Plan on Tobacco Control. The plan sets a goal of reducing tobacco use prevalence to under 5% by the year 2035, and commits $330 million in federal funding over the next five years.
In speaking with Canadian colleagues, their overall perspective is fairly positive. Here is a summary of what we have heard:

• The Federal Tobacco Control Strategy is a step in the right direction and in a positive light, returns us to the levels of funding from 10 years ago.
• It is good to see investments in cessation and prevention as well as the addition of a ‘grants and contributions’ function to the strategy which essentially allows the government to fund external tobacco control organizations through grants again.
• Quitlines are featured in the strategy as an important piece of the cessation ‘puzzle’ and it looks as though there will be opportunities to increase reach equity with higher prevalence groups, as well as investments in promotion.