Fact Sheet

Helping Canadians quit smoking

News Release: Harper Government invests in programs to help Canadians quit smoking

The primary mission of the Government of Canada's Federal Tobacco Control Strategy (FTCS) is to reduce tobacco-related death and disease among Canadians. Under the FTCS, the Public Health Agency of Canada funds interventions aimed at tobacco use as a common risk factor for chronic diseases and that help Canadians quit smoking.

The Government of Canada is focusing on innovative, multi-sectoral partnerships, leveraging resources and achieving greater accountability for results. The two projects announced today support health care providers in counselling their patients to quit smoking.

Implementing a National Smoking Cessation Program in Respiratory and Diabetes Education Clinics – “INSPIRE” (University of Ottawa Heart Institute)

Thanks to federal funding of over $1.6 million, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute will expand on an already successful national smoking cessation program. The program, which enhances health professionals' skills and abilities to provide smoking cessation counselling, currently runs in cardiovascular clinics across Canada and will be expanded into respiratory and diabetes clinics in Ontario, British Columbia and New Brunswick. The expanded model will focus on improving the rates of identification, treatment and follow-up support of smokers with respiratory disease or diabetes; increasing rates of quitting among patients with respiratory disease or diabetes; and, improving the smoking cessation skills of respiratory and diabetes health professionals.

Enhancing the Capacity of Health Care Professionals to Integrate Evidence-based Smoking Cessation Interventions (Canadian Network for Respiratory Care)

The Canadian Network for Respiratory Care will receive federal funding of $930,000 to develop a national smoking cessation training curriculum and establish a smoking cessation educator certification program.

Further funded by private partners, these projects are examples of how the Government is advancing innovative partnerships across many sectors, particularly private, health care and not-for-profit organizations.