Canadian Court Allows Provincial Governments to Sue for Tobacco Related Health Costs
Canada is now the first country outside the US where governments can sue tobacco manufacturers to recover billions of dollars in smoking-related health costs, thanks to a unanimous Canadian Supreme Court ruling last week. Tobacco foes hope other countries will follow Canada’s litigious lead.
“Canada is a pioneer in this,” says Richard Daynard, president of the Tobacco Control Resource Center. “The legislation would obviously be available as a model for legislation in any other country.”
British Columbia’s law, upheld last Thursday by the Canadian Supreme Court, allows the western province to sue tobacco companies for the cost of treating past and future health problems related to smoking. Experts estimate the province’s claim could reach $8.6 billion ($10 billion Canadian). If Canada’s nine other provinces follow British Columbia’s lead – and several already plan to do so – experts say claims against the tobacco industry could top $86 billion.
Whether other countries follow Canada’s lead depends on political will. A key obstacle governments can face in recovering health care costs incurred by smoking-related problems is the burden of proving tobacco’s harm to each individual. But British Columbia’s legislation, which relieves the provincial government of providing such proof, provides a model for other governments to sue tobacco companies more readily.