Canada: BAT Pulls Vuse from PEI Stores, Demands Flavor Ban Enforcement

Imperial Tobacco Canada says it will stop selling its Vuse vapor products in Canadian Maritime province Prince Edward Island (PEI), “due to the province's failure to enforce regulations, allowing the illegal market to thrive.” PEI is Canada's smallest province. Imperial announced the move in a Feb. 27 press release.

The company also says Quebec—the nation’s second-most populous province—”risks the same fate if it does not act swiftly” to enforce its ban on flavored products. 

Imperial Tobacco Canada is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), the world’s second-largest publicly traded tobacco company. BAT and its subsidiaries—including U.S. company R.J. Reynolds—sell Vuse-brand vaping products around the world. (Imperial Tobacco Canada is not related to Imperial Tobacco, the subsidiary of British-based tobacco giant Imperial Brands.)

BAT says vape shops sell to youth, demands flavor ban enforcement 

Prince Edward Island banned non-tobacco vape flavors in 2021. Its Maritime neighbors Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also imposed flavor bans around the same time—Nova Scotia in 2020 and New Brunswick in 2021. Quebec’s flavor ban took effect in 2023. (A long-threatened national flavor ban seems to be on hold for now.)

Demand for flavored vapes, however, did not evaporate with the ban, and some vape shops and independent entrepreneurs have continued to offer e-liquid and disposable vapes in verboten flavors. This doesn’t sit well with BAT and its Canadian subsidiary, who want to see the flavor ban aggressively policed. The tobacco company has no complaints about the flavor ban itself—just the lack of enforcement against its small scofflaw competitors.

"By imposing regulations without adequate enforcement, the province has handed the market to criminals who have no problem selling to youth," said Imperial Tobacco Canada’s Eric Gagnon, vice president of regulatory affairs. "These illegal traffickers operate without fear, knowing that inspections are rare, and fines are merely a cost of doing business. They also know demand will persist because people will continue to vape."

It’s unclear if Imperial has evidence showing that vape shops sell to underage customers at a greater rate than retailers selling Vuse products. It is, however, a claim that might embarrass provincial officials and inspire some enforcement action.  

The company also complains about Canada’s and PEI’s “overly complex tax harmonization process.” In January, PEI joined the Canadian federal government’s weird “tax partnership” scheme, in which provinces agree to a doubling of the federal vape tax, keep half of it, and leave the tax accounting and enforcement work to the feds. Quebec joined the federal tax partnership in 2024.

History of using money and political power to game the market

PEI is Canada’s smallest province, both geographically and by population. With only about 179,000 residents, the island province provides a tiny proportion of BAT’s Canadian vape sales, which makes it a convenient location to stage a publicity stunt. 

If no one pays attention when the tobacco company takes its ball and goes home, not many sales dollars will be lost (Of course, some PEI Vuse customers may go back to smoking, but that’s apparently a small consideration—and, besides, they may smoke Imperial Canada brands.) 

Quebec is a different story: with nine million residents and thousands of retail outlets, BAT’s Canadian vapor product sales would take a significant hit if the company made good on its threat to walk away. 

Would BAT actually shoot itself in the wallet on principle? Probably not—but the company has plenty of complaints. Imperial Tobacco Canada says 61 percent of vaping Quebecers it surveyed last year had purchased flavored vapes, and 33 percent had made online vape purchases, violating the province’s 2015 online sales ban.

BAT and its subsidiaries have a history of using money and political influence to gain competitive advantage over smaller players in the market, and a history of petulance when its government partnerships can’t shut down the competition.

It is typical of this company to blame lack of enforcement for its inability to compete with gray- and black-market products, rather than the provincial flavor bans and other unjust product restrictions themselves.