Big Tobacco wins partial victory in Canadian Court
The Canadian Press reported earlier today that Ottawa has been drawn back into a massive health-care recovery lawsuit after the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled it may share blame with tobacco companies for smoking-related health costs.
The decision handed down earlier tiday only gives the tobacco companies a very narrow opening to have the federal government share financial responsibility. But it sets a precedent for similar cases proceeding in provincial lawsuits underway in Newfoundland, Quebec and New Brunswick, where big tobacco is also seeking to involve the government.
In March 2008, the companies petitioned the British Columbia Supreme Court to add Ottawa as a third party defendant.They argued that Ottawa should be liable right along with them if they are legally compelled to repay health-care costs to the province for smoking-related illness.
The B.C. Supreme Court ruled against them, but on Tuesday three of five appeal court justices allowed the appeal "in part." The court ruled that Ottawa may now be held liable when the case goes to trial in September 2011. At issue will be the federal government's role in designing some tobacco strains, as well as its conduct around warning consumers of tobacco risks.
A spokesman for Imperial Tobacco Canada, one of the companies named in the suit, said on Tuesday the company is pleased with the ruling. Donald McCarty said the ruling will open the door for the record to be set straight about Ottawa's role as a "senior partner" in the tobacco industry. "The B.C. decision will demonstrate that the Government of Canada has known about the risks associated with smoking for decades and that it instigated and promoted the development and sale of lower-tar tobacco products," he said in a statement."It is only right that the Government of Canada stand next to the tobacco industry in these cases and be accountable for its role in the history of tobacco control strategy."
Health advocates took a different view of the ruling. A preferable outcome would have been having Ottawa removed from the case altogether, said Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society."But the most important thing, in our view, is we get this case to trial," he said from Ottawa. "We need this trial to happen."
British Columbia was the first province to launch legal action against tobacco companies, filing suit in 2001 to recover billions of dollars spent through the health-care system on treating smoking-related disease.Other provinces watched closely and six - Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan - have now passed or are in the process of passing legislation that will pave the way for suits meant to recoup costs.
The B.C. Court of Appeal also ruled Tuesday that Ottawa similarly may share blame as a third party in a separate but related class-action suit against tobacco companies seeking to recover money spent by smokers on cigarettes deemed "light" and "mild."
