New Westminster is keen on restricting the proliferation of vape shops in town – and will encourage other municipalities to do the same.
Council unanimously approved a motion from Coun. Daniel Fontaine to have staff report back regarding options that are within council’s jurisdiction to limit the overall number and locations of business licences issued for new vape shops.
“While vape shops are legal, I think as a city it would behoove us to look at limiting the total number of vape shops, just like we do with, for example, cannabis or liquor stores,” Fontaine said.
Fontaine said it doesn’t appear the city currently has the ability within existing bylaws to limit the number of vape shops. He said the motion would direct staff to report with options that council could potentially consider for restricting the location of vape shops and the number of shops in New Westminster.
“I am deeply concerned about proliferation – perhaps not as much in New Westminster, but throughout the Metro area – of these vape shops that are popping up, not only everywhere, but very close to educational institutions,” he said. “In particular, I'm very concerned when they pop up within literally walking distance of high schools and other places of education.”
Fontaine thanked the Fraser Health Authority for supporting his motion.
In a letter to council, Fraser Health conveyed its population and public health team’s “enthusiastic support” for New Westminster's interest in exploring options to limit the number and location of vape shops. In its letter, Fraser Health said it shared the city’s concern about vaping impacts on the community, particularly youth.
Coun. Tasha Henderson said West Vancouver has limited these types of retail stores as a permissible use, so she is confident there will be tools available that allow New West to take action.
“I'm looking forward to what staff recommend that we do,” she said. “But I think this is needs a regional and provincial approach.”
While she would love for New Westminster to restrict these types of businesses, Henderson said it would be easy for kids to hop on SkyTrain and go to shops in other municipalities. She supports action at the local level as well as the regional and provincial level.
In addition to unanimously supporting Fontaine’s motion, council also unanimously supported Henderson’s amendment to ask the province to include retail stores used primarily for the sale of electronic nicotine or e-cigarettes under the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, and thereby include restrictions that regulate where and how many of these retail stores are able to receive business licences in a community. She also asked that the city’s vaping resolution be forwarded to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association.
Fontaine thanked Henderson for bringing forward an amendment and building on his motion to incorporate a broader approach.
“This really does require a provincial approach, and the LMLGA is a good place for that conversation to get started,” he said.
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy supported the motion, noting that information about long-term effects of vaping is not yet available in the way it is for tobacco cigarettes.
“We don't fully know what that long-term health effect is,” he said. “We know tobacco cigarettes have 7,000 chemicals; we don't know what chemicals are contained in e-cigarettes.”
According to McEvoy, the Centre for Disease Control began to measure the impact of vaping in 2020.
“In the year 2020, there were 2,800 cases of people hospitalized with serious lung injury related to vaping, and 68 deaths. That doesn't sound like a lot, but what it sounds like to me is a start for something that's relatively new,” he said. “Half of my uncles died from tobacco use, and it took decades of smoking for that to happen. They were not pretty deaths; they suffered. Vaping is still nicotine. It's still just as addictive as a cigarette, and vaping is sold as if, though it isn't. And that itself is a serious health problem.”
