Ontario convenience store owners are urging their provincial government to join Alberta in pressing Ottawa to scrap its pharmacy-only rule for nicotine pouches.
In a November 3 release, the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) cited an EY Canada report for the Convenience Industry Council of Canada that estimates illegal cigarettes make up between 42% and 53% of Ontario's cigarette market. The OCSA said illegal vapes and pouches now move through the same channels.
"Governments can't keep further regulating and restricting approved products while allowing the black market to flourish," said OCSA chair Kenny Shim.
The association said that since the 2024 ministerial order, the market for the product "has now been completely lost to the black market.”
The Ontario government has not publicly responded to the association's call.
Health Canada's August 2024 order requires pouches to be kept behind the pharmacy counter and limited to mint or menthol flavours. Zonnic, made by Imperial Tobacco, is the only authorized brand.
Éric Gagnon, vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs at Imperial Tobacco Canada, told FM93 on October 14 that 90% of Canada's smokeless nicotine market is illegal. That is an industry figure.
In a Financial Post opinion piece on October 15, Jasmine Odlin of Nuvona, part of Altria Group, wrote that Canada Border Services Agency officers at the Blue Water Bridge seized two pouch shipments valued at more than $3.8 million on Aug. 10, 2026.
At the Global Forum on Nicotine 2026 in Warsaw in June, pharmacist Todd Prochnau examined the model's consequences, including barriers to access, added pressure on pharmacists, and inconsistent risk communication.
"It would be funny if it wasn't so serious, but only the federal government could take a legal, regulated product and make it more difficult for adults to purchase, yet easier for kids to get their hands on," Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally told Global News in March 2026.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel rejected loosening the rules on September 22, while acknowledging the illicit market's reach.
"I cannot say that as a health minister, I can track every single package in the illicit market. That would be completely not serious for me to say that," Michel said.