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in line with the longitudinal study conducted by Gorini et al. (2016), which found that children and adolescents who belonged to smoking households were two times more likely to become cigarette smokers as young adults, as compared to those who belonged to smoke free households while growing up [39]. It is then possible that witnessing smoking behaviors by close family members might normalize smoking related behaviours, leading to an increased uptake of e-cigarette smoking among younger populations [40]. Furthermore, it is also plausible that exposure to second hand smoke may itself play a role in uptake of e-cigarettes [41]. Those who reported being current tobacco smokers were significantly more likely to be e-cigarette users. These results were expected and are similar to other studies that have found that the combined use of the traditional cigarette and e-cigarettes is common among adolescents and young adults [42–44]. Although, the reasons for the combined use of traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes are unknown in this study, a study conducted by Kong et al. (2015) among young adults and adolescents, found that commonly stated reasons for using e-cigarettes along with traditional cigarettes included their affordability, the belief that they had reduced health risks, availability of different flavours and the ability to use them in different settings [45]. Among the demographic and health related variables, youth aged 15–17 and those aged 18–21 were significantly more likely to be past 30-day e-cigarette users as compared to those aged 22–24. Findings from Reid et al. (2015) were consistent with our findings and also showed that prevalence of e-cigarette was the highest among young Canadians, particularly between the ages of 15–19 and reported that this association subsequently decreased with increasing age [46]. Similar trends have also been seen in the United States. A study by Cullen et al. (2018) reported one in every five high school students in United States had tried e-cigarettes in the past 30 days in 2018. Following such reports, the U. S Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, declared e-cigarette use among youth an ‘epidemic’ in the country and pushed for higher officials to take action [47]. Adolescents’ perceptions of e-cigarettes’, especially flavored e-cigarettes, as being less harmful and not containing nicotine, combined with a greater propensity of experimentation and risk taking behaviors associated with adolescence, may explain the higher rates of e-cigarettes use among minors seen in this study [27, 48]. Among other sociodemographic and health related factors, males were more likely to have used e-cigarettes in the past 30-days as compared to females. Many studies have also shown similar results [21, 42, 49]. While the reasons for this finding could be multifaceted, a study conducted in the United States by Coleman et al. (2015) found that males were almost twice more likely than females to report openness to smoking [50], which when combined with greater social acceptability of e-cigarette smoking [51] might give some insight into why males have greater odds of being e-cigarette smokers when compared to females. However, future research efforts should be directed towards understanding the motivations towards e-cigarette smoking among both sexes. The present study has several strengths. To our knowledge this is the first study to look at illicit drug, marijuana and alcohol use and their association with e-cigarette use among Canadians aged 15–24. The results of this study are nationally representative and can be used by future studies to assess and track changes in e-cigarette use. Given the changing landscape of e-cigarette use in Canada, multifaceted factors might play a role in its uptake by the Canadian youth. The comprehensive list of covariates used in this study will help deconstruct the complex nature of e-cigarette use and its associated factors within the younger Canadians and aid in the development of specific and targeted policies around its use. Although novel, this study had a few limitations. Due to the design of the survey, important demographic variables such as socioeconomic status and ethnicity were not reported in this