2016 Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy Monitoring Report

Key Findings:

• Past 30-day use of various tobacco products (including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff or chewing tobacco, but not including waterpipe and electronic cigarettes) reported by Ontarians aged 12 years or older was 20% – statistically lower than the 2010 rate of 22%
• Past-30 day cigarette use remains high among young adult males aged 20 to 24 (23%) and 25 to 29 (29%)
• Strategy smoking cessation interventions, including physician billing to OHIP for cessation counseling, directly engaged over 324,225 smokers (or about 17% of all smokers)

These are some of the findings highlighted in this year’s Strategy Monitoring Report. This report presents evaluative information about the activities and results of the Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy and describes Strategy infrastructure and interventions, analyzes population-level changes, and explores the contributions of interventions.

To further understanding of Strategy challenges and accomplishments, the report includes assessments of Ontario’s progress relative to the World Health Organization’s MPOWER standards, and recommendations of the 2010 Smoke-Free Ontario Scientific Advisory Committee.

The report concludes that Ontario continues to work diligently toward becoming the Canadian jurisdiction with the lowest smoking rate. Smoke-Free Ontario partners are supporting positive changes in the physical and social climates to prevent and reduce tobacco use, helping to create environments conducive to decreased initiation, increased cessation, and, ultimately, reduced smoking in Ontario.