A shopkeeper reaches for a packet of cigarettes in a newsagent in London November 28, 2013. Britain announced an independent review of tobacco packaging on Thursday and said it was ready to introduce new laws banning branding on cigarette packets if the report found sufficient evidence to support it. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

A professor from University of Waterloo observed Canada's anti-smoking campaign has been slipping, all because the government has not curbed the low selling prices of cigarettes in the country.

While Canada has been successful in implementing policies described in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a study noted that smokers still failed to heed to warnings because cigarettes became more affordable in Canada between 2002 and 2010.

"While overall smoking prevalence among Canadian adults (aged 15 and older) has decreased dramatically from about 50 per cent in 1965 to less than 20 per cent in 2011, there has been a levelling off in this decline in recent years," a statement released by the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC) said.

"Recently there hasn't been much effort, especially on the part of the federal government in providing resources to encourage people to quit smoking," Geoffrey Fong, the study's author, said on The Morning Edition on Thursday.

"As a result you see a sense from a public as well that since smoking rates have come done so far that smoking is done and it's time to move on to other things."

Imposing high prices is one substantial component to curb smoking incidences. However in Canada, between 2002 and 2010, cigarettes became affordable.

"Affordability increased by 1.4 per cent per year, amounting to a total increase of about 12 per cent over 8 years," the study said.

"We know from our research and those of others that unless the government strengthens its efforts, we're going to see a potential increase in smoking rates," Mr Fong said.

More than half of the smokers surveyed "agreed" or "strongly agreed" the government should do more to tackle the harm done by smoking. A third or 34 per cent said they would "support" or "strongly support" a law that banned tobacco products completely.

Almost half or 47 per cent, meantime, said they would "support" or "strongly support" a law that restricted the number of places where cigarettes could be purchased.

Among the recommended strategies mentioned by the report include:

1. Increase prices and taxes on tobacco products and control price and price promotions, to reduce demand, particularly in Ontario and Quebec where total prices are much lower than in other provinces/territories.

2. Implement legislation for plain and standardized packaging.

3. Implement new pictorial warnings on packs by June 2015.

4. Conduct research to understand how e-cigarettes are being used among smokers, former smokers, and especially among youth and young people to inform regulations and legislation.

5. Strengthen point of sale display ban legislation in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Northwest Territories by removing exemptions for venues that are not accessible by minors.

6. Regulate smoking in movies and television programming.

7. Provide sustained funding for mass media campaigns on the health effects of tobacco use.

8. Implement a ban on menthol and other flavourings in tobacco products.