Manitoba premier breaks through 'zone of secrecy' on tobacco lawsuits, says anti-smoking group head

Cynthia Callard was taken aback last weekend when she heard Manitoba's premier say the province is expecting a settlement soon from lawsuits filed by Canadian provinces against big tobacco companies.

A major part of her 30-year professional career as executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada — a national health organization focused on reducing tobacco-caused illness — has been focused on tracking the lawsuits, but the process has been shrouded in secrecy, she said.

"None of the governments have said anything about the lawsuits" for years, Callard said in an interview from Ottawa. "Over the last five years, when they've been negotiating with the tobacco companies, there's been a complete cone of silence."

At the Manitoba NDP convention in Winnipeg on Saturday, Premier Wab Kinew said an initial payment of hundreds of millions of dollars could arrive soon.

"These lawsuits have been in the works for many, many years and it just so happens that we now expect a settlement to be reached later this year, perhaps next year," Kinew said on May 4.

Manitoba sued major tobacco companies to recover the costs of providing health-care services for tobacco-related illness in 2012. Lawsuits by all 10 provinces named Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and JTI-Macdonald. 

The cases were stalled by a range of court battles, but in March 2019 a group of people in Quebec received $13.5 billion in damages in a class-action lawsuit against the companies. This forced the companies to seek creditor protection, putting a freeze on all other lawsuits against them. 

That meant the provinces were pushed into the creditor process. Six provinces, including Manitoba, are working together with the same legal team.

The process is now in mediation, according to court documents.

Robert Thornton, a lawyer for JTI-Macdonald, told CBC in an email that "all aspects of the mediation are confidential and no comment is possible by virtue of a court order."

Deborah Glendinning, a lawyer for Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, said negotiations are being conducted via a court-ordered mediation, and public comment would be a violation of the court order.

"When and if a settlement is reached it will be publicly disclosed in court filings," Glendinning said in an email to CBC News.

Kinew told the NDP convention the money Manitoba is expecting from the settlement will go toward building a new CancerCare Manitoba headquarters and other prevention measures.

In a statement Wednesday to CBC News, CancerCare Manitoba said it appreciates "this commitment to build a much-needed facility."