Smoking Concerns

The City of Edmonton's Public Places Bylaw regulates where smoking is permitted in public places: this includes tobacco, tobacco-like products, vaping and cannabis.

Effective July 1, 2020, tobacco like products are defined as:

"A product, other than a tobacco product, composed in whole or in part of plants or plant products, or any extract of them, and includes shisha and hookah."

Effective October 17, 2018, there are new rules on smoking and vaping.  

Smoking will not be permitted within 10 metres of:

• Doorways, windows and air intakes of buildings and patios
• On a patio
• Bus stops

In addition, smoking will not be allowed on or within:

• Any patio or building (buildings include those that are publicly or privately owned, to which members of the public have access, such as stores and restaurants)
• Public vehicles (buses, taxis, LRT, and other vehicles that transport the public for a fee)
• Parks containing playgrounds, sports fields, skate parks, bicycle parks, outdoor theatres, outdoor pools, water spray parks, seasonal skating rinks or off-leash areas
• School properties or child care facility properties
• City-owned golf courses
• Cemeteries
• Ski hills
• Transit stations, bus terminals and LRT platform
• Sir Winston Churchill Square, Fort Edmonton Park, the John Janzen Nature Centre, the Edmonton Valley Zoo, the Muttart Conservatory and William Hawrelak Park
• Anywhere designated as a no-smoking area for cannabis or tobacco

Smoking cannabis and tobacco will be permitted in private residences. However, private property owners may establish their own restrictions for smoking on their property. 

There are additional provincial and federal rules applicable to cannabis.

In addition to the new rules in the City of Edmonton on tobacco smoking, the Province of Alberta also regulates tobacco smoking in public places through the Tobacco and Smoking Reduction Act. Citizens are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the provincial rules.

Disposing of Cigarette Butts

Discarded cigarette butts are one of the most common forms of littering in the city. Business owners and managers are responsible for ensuring the area around their business is free of cigarette litter. The city has several programs to help keep Edmonton free of cigarette litter.