The city of Lloydminster is forcing businesses to pay a lot more if they want to sell tobacco.
The community’s City Council recently passed a bylaw that would force retailers to buy licenses to sell tobacco. Regular tobacco products would require a $750 payment each year, and an additional $350 would be required if they are selling flavoured tobacco.
Donna Pasiechnik with the Canadian Cancer Society says the license will address one major concern she has: who is selling the tobacco. Some businesses, like pharmacies, are not allowed to sell, but otherwise, any other retailer could sell cigarettes.
Pasiechnik says a license will end the question of who’s selling it.
Pasiechnik adds that some retailers that only supply a few tobacco products could be thinking twice about keeping tobacco on their shelves.
She says given the deadly nature of tobacco, the move makes perfect sense.
The potential $1,100 fee for a license is the highest in Canada.
Pasiechnik hopes that other Saskatchewan cities will follow suit, given that Lloydminster is the first municipality in the province to require a tobacco license.