Three national health organizations want Canada’s premiers to push for initiatives to reduce smoking during settlement negotiations with major tobacco companies, years after provinces sued to recoup health-care costs.
“Tobacco causes a devastating toll in disease and death, a toll that is contributing to the ongoing crisis in the health-care system,” the groups say in the letter released Monday, ahead of World No Tobacco Day, an annual campaign by the World Health Organization to raise awareness about the harms of tobacco use.
Before the letter was released, a spokeswoman for the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General said she could not comment on any plans the province may have to introduce measures to reduce tobacco use following a settlement. She cited confidentiality obligations due to a court-ordered mediation after the tobacco companies filed for creditor protection in 2019.
Rob Cunningham, a lawyer and senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, said the tobacco firms can only get out of bankruptcy protection in a settlement agreed to by all provinces, giving governments leverage to negotiate strict measures. While the territories did not file lawsuits, they are being represented in the negotiations by a consortium of law firms working on behalf of six of the provinces — British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
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