The British Columbia General Prosecutor Niki Sharma said that the province’s share of a historic regulation for damage to the health of large tobacco companies will be around $ 3.7 billion, with money that will be distributed over at least 18 years.
This is part of a Canadian regulation of $ 32.5 billion between JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. And their creditors after more than five years of negotiations.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved the rules, which Sharma described as the greatest in Canadian history and the third biggest world.
Sharma says that the money that BC receives will go directly to strengthening the health system and compensation for public spending for health care for people who suffer from smoking diseases.
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She says that British Columbia is expected to receive around $ 900 million in the first year and 14.47% of its amount of payment each year in the future.
Sharma says that the province has opened the way to work to hold large tobacco companies responsible for “knowingly retain the truth” on the harmful impacts of their products.
She said that the Pan Canadian legal battle began in British Columbia in the late 1990s, with the adoption of the tobacco damage recovery law.
“It is not only a question of financial compensation, because we know that there will never be enough money to cancel the damage and damage caused by these deceptive practices,” Sharma said at a press conference in Victoria on Thursday.
“It is a question of guaranteeing that there are real consequences on the reprehensible acts of companies and the measures to avoid more damage.”
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press