Saskatchewan health advocates are sounding the alarm after a 2018 survey shows the province has the highest smoking rate in the country.
According to the survey, the smoking rate in Saskatchewan for ages 12 and up is 20 percent, which is the highest among provinces and four per cent higher than the national average.
Donna Pasiechnik, a health policy analyst from the Canadian Cancer Society, said these new numbers are a concern for the province.
“In a province where we are grappling with rising health care costs we should be doing more to prevent kids from starting, to support people who are trying to quit investing in tobacco control,” said Pasiechnik. “It is very concerning to me, as a person who loves this province as a person who wants to stay in this province."
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, the province spends the least per capita on tobacco control and has outdated smoking laws. However the province said some tobacco influence is out of its control.
“If parents don’t smoke then children are less likely to smoke so i think some of that also needs to happen but that’s not just up to the government,” said Dr. Saqib Shahab, the Chief Medical Officer from the Ministry of Health.
Pasiechnik said she wants to see updated smoking legislated implemented by this fall, but the government said it is currently focusing on reducing access to vaping devices, after another recent study in the British Medical Journal saw teen vaping in Canada rise 74 per cent. The province did not say if or when it will be looking into updating smoking legislation.
With files from CTV's Madina Azizi
