Hundreds gather outside Queen’s Park to protest laws regulating public vaping

(Photo by Lauri Rantala / Flickr)

TORONTO—Hundreds gathered outside Queen’s Park Saturday to protest a law that regulates electronic cigarettes.

The crowd puffed on e-cigarettes and chanted that “vaping is not smoking” and “the Smoke-Free Ontario Act has failed”.

They were there to protest the province’s Electronic Cigarette Act, which passed in May.

The act regulates where and how e-cigarettes can be sold and smoked, and it prevents “vape shops” from demonstrating how to use the devices.

E-cigarettes mimic the experience of smoking tobacco by vaporizing a liquid that often contains nicotine.

Proponents of e-cigarettes contend the devices are cleaner and healthier than traditional cigarettes.

The rally was organized by Vapor Advocates of Ontario, a group formed just last week