N.S. and N.B. to receive close to $1.5 billion in historic tobacco settlement

Nova Scotia is getting $809 million and New Brunswick is getting $614 million in an historic tobacco settlement.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are each set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars as part of a historic tobacco settlement decades in the making.

Nova Scotia will receive approximately $809 million while New Brunswick will receive roughly $614 million after the settlement agreement was approved between three major tobacco companies and Canadian provinces and territories.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said the province expects about $200 million up front and the rest over the next 15 to 20 years.

“The Government of Nova Scotia pursued this litigation to hold the tobacco industry accountable for the harms it has caused Nova Scotians and for the related healthcare costs,” said Houston in a Friday news release. “Those wrongful practices resulted in extraordinary costs to our healthcare system, and we set out to recover those costs.”

New Brunswick will receive $147 million up front and the remainder over time, said a statement from the province.

Provincial Health Minister John Dornan said New Brunswick was “instrumental” in launching the litigation.

“I am pleased to announce a resolution of our effort to recover money for our health-care system from the tobacco companies that have sold cigarettes in Canada,” Dornan said.

Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz approved the $32.5-billion settlement and hailed it as a “momentous achievement in Canadian restructuring history.”

The settlement was proposed in October after years of mediation between the companies – JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — and creditors, including plaintiffs in two Quebec class-action lawsuits and provincial and territorial governments.

Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society, which was a social stakeholder in the case, said he was “disappointed” the approved settlement did not contain stronger public health measures.

He said it’s essential for the provinces to strengthen their smoking-reduction efforts using the money they will receive from the settlement.

Dornan said adult smoking rates have declined in New Brunswick from 26 per cent in 2000 to 13 per cent, while youth smoking rates have declined from 14 per cent in 2018-19 to 6.6 per cent today.

“Our objective is to reach zero per cent, to help protect the health of New Brunswickers for the future,” Dornan said.

Approximately 13.7 per cent of Nova Scotians smoke but there are supports available from Tobacco Free Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Health said the release from the province.

With files from The Canadian Press