The provincial government wants to ban flavoured tobacco products, which it says are marketed toward children.
The province will introduce a bill amend the Non-Smokers Health Protection Act to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco including cigars and cigarettes.
These products often come in colourful packaging that appeals to kids, and tobacco companies often price them lower than other products, Healthy Living Minister Sharon Blady said in a news release.
"Cigarettes that taste like strawberry and bubble gum in flashy packaging are attractive to children and encourage them to experiment with tobacco,” she said in the release.
A survey by Propel Centre for Population Health Impact found that teens use flavoured tobacco products more than non-flavoured.
Youth smoking rates in Manitoba declined to 13 per cent in 2012 from 29 per cent in 1999, according to a the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey.
The legislation is intended to close a loopholes in federal legislation. Menthol tobacco products, snuff and chewing tobacco will be exempt from the ban.
