Millions in the initial payments of tobacco companies are about to flow to provincial and territorial coffers on Friday as part of an agreement of $ 32.5 billion, with Ontario and Quebec to receive more than one billion dollars, and the other provinces millions more.
And anti -tabaco defenders are urging provinces and territories to use money from the historical agreement in public health programs.
In March, a judge of Ontario sanctioned a plan of $ 32.5 billion that required three important tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars in compensation to provinces, territories and former smokers.
The agreement was first proposed in October 2024 after years of mediation between companies, JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., and their creditors.
That group includes the plaintiffs in two demands of collecting action of Quebec, as well as the provincial and territorial governments that seek to recover the costs of medical care related to smoking.
As the compensation begins to flow with the initial payments on Friday, the defenders ask the provinces to invest this cash reduction strategies.
Hagen, with the Association for Action on Smoking and Health, says that the agreement does not include corrective actions, so tobacco will continue to be sold and marketed in Canada without further restrictions.
While the number of smokers in Canada is at its lowest levels, there is still an estimate of four million tobacco smokers in the country and around 46,000 Canadians continue every year to die for deaths related to tobacco.
“Without the introduction of new measures that limit the capacity of the industry to recruit new clients and without adequate funds to support such initiatives, the agreement negotiated by the provinces and territories will be nothing more than a gigantic in cash,” said Flore Doucas, the spokeswoman for the Quebecoise pour Pour Le Portole du Tabac coalition, and adds that it will have nothing to protect the generations of the future Companies from these companies from these companies. “
The historical agreement will see around $ 24 billion for provinces and territories in the period of two decades, while the plaintiffs in the demands of Quebec will obtain more than $ 4 billion to divide with each other, with a period of claims for those members who also open on Friday.
Another $ 2.5 billion will compensate for Canadian smokers that are not included in the demands, and more than $ 1 billion will go to a foundation to fight against tobacco related diseases.
The money for the Foundation also includes $ 131 million taken from the amount allocated to Quebec plaintiffs.
The plan was approved unanimously by the creditors in December and faced its final obstacle, the approval of the court, which was granted in March.
But public health defenders have longed for the lack of smoking reduction measures.
The legal saga began with an emblematic decision in Quebec that ordered companies to pay around $ 15 billion to the plaintiffs in two class action demands.
The case emigrated to Ontario in 2019 when companies sought the protection of creditors after the Quebec ruling was confirmed in appeal.
All legal procedures against the three were suspended during the negotiations, which were confidential.
The agreement is a Pan-Canadian agreement of all outstanding tobacco litigation in the country. Companies had faced claims for a total of more than $ 1 billion, including the demands of provincial governments that seek to recover medical care costs related to smoking, as well as other actions.
In a ruling this week, the president of the Superior Court of Ontario, Geoffrey Morawetz, signed $ 909 million in legal fees for collective action lawyers who have fought against tobacco companies in the courts during the last three decades.
Almost $ 900 million of that is for the Quebec advisor whose clients will receive almost $ 4 billion. The payment requested by your lawyers represents 22 percent of that sum.
“The $ 909 million rate request is unknown in Canadian legal history,” said the main judge. “As stated above, this is a unique case and this decision should never be considered as a preceding value.”
But he found no reason to reduce the amount.
“Taking into account the result achieved, the risk, complexity and importance of the matter for the class, I am convinced that the requested rate is reasonable in the circumstances and is approved,” Morawetz wrote in a failure dated Monday.
