September 29, 2005
VANCOUVER – The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unanimously in favour of B.C.’s effort to hold the tobacco industry to account for practices that have harmed so many British Columbians, said Health Minister George Abbott.
“Today all nine judges of Canada’s highest court ruled in our favour,” said Abbott. “Now we can proceed with our case to recover the costs that are owed to the taxpayers of B.C.”
British Columbia’s lawsuit alleges that, since the 1950s, the tobacco industry failed to warn consumers about the harmful and addictive nature of tobacco. Had the industry complied with its legal duty, smoking rates would have dramatically decreased much earlier; fewer people would have succumbed to tobacco-related disease; and tobacco-related health costs would have been lower.
As a result of the tobacco industry’s failure to warn about the risks of tobacco use in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, people, particularly youth and women, took up smoking. It is the health care costs for these smokers that the government seeks to recover from the tobacco industry.
“Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease and death,” said Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer. “In B.C., lung cancer now kills more women than breast cancer.”
“British Columbia thanks the eight other provinces that intervened in support of our case in the Supreme Court of Canada. This is truly a victory that all of Canada can share,” said Abbott. “The Supreme Court has confirmed in this ruling that the tobacco manufacturers will receive a fair civil trial under B.C.’s Act, and we look forward to the chance to prove our solid case.”
The lawsuit asserts that, among other indiscretions, tobacco manufacturers marketed “light” cigarettes as safer when they knew they were not; targeted children in their advertising and marketing; conspired to suppress research on the risks of smoking and to invalidate the public warning on the risks of smoking; and are responsible for health care costs associated with smoking.
British Columbia’s Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act authorizes the B.C. government to seek recovery of tobacco-related health care costs that arose as a result of the tobacco industry’s misconduct. The Act sets out procedural and evidentiary rules that level the playing field in any action against the tobacco industry.
