Manitoba expects $1B from tobacco settlement

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba will receive approximately $1 billion from a class-action lawsuit that called for three major tobacco companies to compensate provinces and territories and ex-smokers across Canada.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the money will be used to pay for cancer treatment.

“Every single dollar that comes to Manitoba as part of this settlement will go towards fighting cancer so more Manitobans can hear those four magic words: you are cancer free,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

A final court hearing was held Monday in Ontario for the Canadian Tobacco Proceedings, a series of lawsuits and settlements targeting the companies for smoking-caused medical problems caused by their products.

Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz approved the $32.5-billion plan in a ruling released Thursday.

Anyone diagnosed with lung cancer, throat cancer or emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease between March 8, 2015, and March 8, 2019, may be eligible to file a claim under the Tobacco Settlement Canada 2025.

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 their creditors, which include plaintiffs in two Quebec class-action lawsuits as well as provincial and territorial governments seeking to recoup smoking-related health-care costs.

The suit called for the companies to pay more than $24 billion to provinces and territories over about two decades. Another $2.5 billion will go to compensate Canadian smokers not included in the lawsuits, and more than $1 billion will go to a foundation to fight tobacco-related diseases.

Premier Wab Kinew has said the money Manitoba receives from the settlement will be spent fighting the disease and supporting cancer patients.

The National Counsel for the Consortium of Provinces and Territories called the journey “long and gruelling.”

“Tremendous damage was caused by the deceptive marketing practices of the tobacco industry in the past. No amount of money can compensate for that. But thanks to the steely determination and commitment of our provincial and territorial government clients and citizens across Canada, there is now some measure of justice as well as a significant injection of much needed resources into our health system,” the national council said in a statement.

– with files from The Canadian Press

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca