I was asked a question. Here is my answer (and thensome)

 A letter is printed in a newspaper.

The author shares it on Twitter.

I comment. Author responds. I reply.

A question gets asked:

"Alberta is the only province that does not regulate vaping. Why?"

... and here we are.

Now I can't speak for the government, but there are several plausible reasons why the revisions to the TOBACCO AND SMOKING REDUCTION ACT, Statutes of Alberta, 2005, Chapter T-38 have not yet been proclaimed. How plausible varies. Some would be pretty glaring, some not so much.

1) Generally, Albertans are perceived as "independent", "personal rights" focussed, "Don't tread on me" types. 

I offer this as neither an accolade nor an admonishment. It's a generalization. It's a stereotype. It also has a grain of truth to it. 

Decades of "right" leaning governance. Home of such quotes as "Shoot, shovel, shut up" as a public statement from a premier in response to an issue with bovine spongiform encephalitis.

Even our left-wing government representatives are right-leaning. Alberta's NDP party is not British Columbia's NDP party (which is why I actually quite liked Rachel Notley's government for the most part; I'm a centrist.)

When asked during the run-up to the last election what the UCP's position statement was on (taxing) vaping, this quote was provided to CBC: 

"We do not intend to introduce new taxes on products that are already illegal for minors to obtain,"

Fast forward to when the consultation process for the regulatory review was underway, Albertan adult ex-smokers come vapers were pretty vocal about that quote; and the groundwork for a flavour ban that was also included in the wording of the proposed revisions. They were not generally putting letters in newspapers about it (I was), they were writing letters to their MLA's, they were making submissions to the consultation, and they were making sure that folks like me were attending the meetings for that review. With my 4 inch binders that contained:

• "Nicotine Without Smoke: Tobacco Harm Reduction" Royal College of Physicians (London) 2016.
• "Harm Minimization and Tobacco Control: Reframing Societal Views of Nicotine Use to Rapidly Save Lives" Abrams et al., Annual Review of Public Health. 2018. 
• "Patterns of flavoured e-cigarette use among adults vapers in the United States: an internet survey." Farsalinos et al. Submitted to Docket No. FDA-2017-N-6565 for "Regulation of Flavours in Tobacco Products" (Gammerical fault in the title, not mine. Spoke to the impact of flavour preference in adult uptake and use in pursuing cessation and continued abstinence from combustion)
• "Changing patterns of first e-cigarette flavor used and current flavors used by 20,836 adult frequent e-cigarette users in the USA" Russel et al., Harm reduction Journal. 2018. ( American spelling maintained. Also spoke to flavour preference in adult users)
• "A Randomized Trial of E-Cigarettes versus Nicotine-Replacement Therapy" Hajek et al., The New England Journal of Medicine. 2019. (Speaks to the efficacy of vaping as a cessation option)
• "Vapers Panel Survey to Measure Attitudes and Behaviours Regarding Vaping Products" Environics Research, Prepared for Health Canada. 2019 (At the time this was the only Govt. sponsored public opinion research with a clear delineation between those who were of legal age to access vaping products and those who were not. This report spoke to youth motivation, access, and preference in vaping products. It was not a shining example of the vaping industry at all. It was, however, important information and foundational in my recommendations for appropriate regulation of the space particularly with regards to youth.)

Not only were these reports compiled for presentation, but they were also highlighted, according to a matrix to identify information specifically pertaining to key aspects of the file: Health Impacts, Efficacy, Regulatory,  and Youth. There were over 300 pages in that binder, and you could find and read every salient academic point I wanted to bring up in under 20 minutes. The government got to keep the binders.

Albertan adult vapers did a fairly good job of making sure the government knew we were no longer apathetic; as we were when we were smokers. We are more engaged because "not smoking" is an issue that is close to our hearts; and our health.

We turned "vaping" into a political hot potato.

2) The COVID-19 pandemic has diverted focus away from many issues.

The TSRA review was held in Q4 of 2019. COVID took off in Q1 2020 and has dominated all discourse for the last 16 months.

3) The Provincial Government may be waiting for the Feds to "Take the Hit".

Federal regulation caping nicotine content in vaping products at 20 mg/ml is expected to be published in the Canada Gazette Vol. 2 this month. It is further anticipated that the transition time will be less than what is generally given in trade matters. 

Proposed Federal regulation pertaining to flavour prohibitions will likely be published in the Canada Gazette Vol. 1 either this month or early next month. It is further anticipated that consultation on the proposed regulations will be set at a minimum time frame and a CG 2 publication to come through as fast as it can be pushed through the system.

Politically it is advantageous for the UCP to let that process occur upstream so that folks like me are dropping morbidity and mortality data on Patty Hajdu's desk instead of Tyler Shandro's.

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This sums up my thoughts on why Alberta has not yet enacted the TSRA amendments.

None of it discounts concerns of youth usage of vaping products, nor should it imply that youth usage of vaping products is not of concern to me. It is very much a concern to me. I spend as much time griping at vape shop owners about dumb acts on their part as I do griping at governments about how heavy-handed measures will not only miss the mark when it comes to youth risk-taking behaviour but will harm many Canadian adult smokers and actually impede progress towards the CTS goal of less than 5% smoking prevalence by 2035.

If you would like my opinion on why the current approach of prohibition will be ineffective in curbing youth risk-taking behaviour I would be more than happy to provide my perspective on that as well from my viewpoint on the inside.