As Joly rallies retailers to support Canadian products, OCSA calls for provincial control over nicotine pouch sales and a crackdown on the illegal market

TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2026 /CNW/ -- Industry Minister Mélanie Joly told Canadians yesterday that supporting Canadian products is one of the clearest ways to respond to the escalating trade war with the United States, revealing she had spoken with retailer associations to help identify and promote Canadian-made goods on store shelves.

"When you choose a Canadian product, you are not only putting pressure on the U.S. — you are protecting jobs," Joly said, describing the effort as a "movement of resistance" to American tariffs.

The Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) says that principle should extend further — to protecting the independent retailers who sell those Canadian products in the first place, and who are increasingly losing ground to a growing illegal market.

OCSA President Kenny Shim welcomed Joly's comments.

"Independent convenience stores are Canadian businesses too," said Shim. "They employ people in our communities, collect millions in taxes every year and provide essential services to millions of Canadians. Supporting Canadian business must include supporting the retailers who put legal, regulated Canadian products on their shelves."

OCSA points to a growing influx of contraband cigarettes, illegal vapes and unauthorized nicotine pouches, many entering from the U.S., as an ironic twist on Washington's own complaints about cross-border enforcement.

"We've spent more than a year hearing accusations from Donald Trump about Canada not stopping illegal products from moving south," Shim said. "Meanwhile, illegal nicotine products are moving into Canada, largely from the US and onto our streets."

Two years of nicotine pouch restrictions, one growing black market

Until August 2024, Ontario stores could legally sell Zonnic, a 4mg Health Canada-authorized, low nicotine replacement product, developed and marketed by a Canadian company. That August, Ottawa banned convenience store sales, restricting the product to pharmacies under a single federal rule applied the same way across every province.

Two years on, OCSA says consumer demand for nicotine pouches hasn't disappeared — it's shifted to unregulated, untaxed channels who largely source products from the US.

"Government took a legal, Canadian approved product away from responsible retailers, but it didn't take away consumer demand," said Shim. "The result has been an expanding illegal market, while retailers have lost important revenue and governments have lost millions in tax revenue."

OCSA is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford to pursue a coordinated strategy including:

• Stronger enforcement against illegal tobacco, vaping and nicotine product imports and sales
• Meaningful penalties for businesses knowingly selling illegal products
• Greater federal-provincial enforcement cooperation
• Deferring regulation of how nicotine pouches are sold to individual provinces, rather than maintaining a single federal restriction
• A regulatory pathway restoring licensed retailer access to authorized nicotine products, shaped by each province's own approach to age-restricted retail

"Provinces already regulate how age-restricted products like tobacco and alcohol are sold in their own communities," said Shim. "Nicotine pouches should be no different. Let the provinces determine the right retail model instead of a one-size-fits-all federal rule that isn't working. We support strict age verification and meaningful penalties for anyone who sells to minors — what we don't support is a system that pulls legal products from responsible retailers while an illegal market flourishes around us."

"If Canada wants Canadians to buy Canadian, governments need to let Canadian retailers sell Canadian."

About OCSA: The Ontario Convenience Stores Association represents convenience store operators across Ontario, including thousands of independent, family-owned businesses. OCSA advocates for responsible retailing, effective age-verification standards, fair regulation and policies that support legitimate retailers while combating illegal sales of age-restricted products.

SOURCE Ontario Convenience Stores Association