The Newfoundland and Labrador government has decided how a half-billion-dollar legal settlement with major tobacco companies will hit the books.
But there are few details at this point on how the province will actually spend that money when it flows into the provincial treasury.
Now the Canadian Cancer Society is weighing in to call for targeted investments it believes could have big impacts.
“Tobacco remains a leading preventable cause of disease and death in the province,” Rob Cunningham, the society’s senior policy analyst, told CBC News.
“It is essential that a significant proportion of the tobacco settlement funds be allocated to strengthen the province’s tobacco control strategy.”
Cunningham noted the province is going to be receiving cash over 20 or 30 years.
“We can reduce cancer and other diseases, and that’s exactly what the priority should be,” he said.
“The greater the action by the government, the greater the public health benefit will be, and that will be accompanied also by a reduction in health care costs.”
Last month, CBC News asked then-justice minister Bernard Davis whether there is a specific plan for the tobacco settlement money, or whether it would go into general government revenues.
“We haven’t talked about where that revenue will go,” Davis said on April 11, two days after the provincial budget was tabled.
“That’s going to be a decision of the cabinet and the government as a whole to see where that investment goes. But obviously the class-action suit was based on the tobacco industry’s impact on health care and individuals in that area.”
In an interview Friday, Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell indicated those decisions still haven’t yet been made.
N.L. won $500M from a lawsuit over tobacco companies. The Canadian Cancer Society has ideas for that cash
“We’ll be advocating that some of that money is certainly invested into our department, into our programs and into the many things that happen here in the department to continue to support health care in Newfoundland and Labrador,” Howell said.
“It’ll be a big discussion throughout the whole government.”
The Canadian Cancer Society is calling for a comprehensive strategy that would include programs to help people stop smoking, prevention efforts targeted at youth, communications campaigns and policy development.
Cunningham said one of the immediate policy options would be increasing the minimum age for tobacco and cigarettes from 19 to 21.
Prince Edward Island, he noted, has already done that.
Cunningham also highlighted the issue of youth vaping. Vaping was specifically mentioned by Newfoundland and Labrador’s health department when it launched public consultations a year ago on possible changes to laws governing tobacco and related products.
Howell expressed concern about vaping, saying she’s received “very alarming” reports of use by children as young as Grade 4.
“We know that there are significant challenges now and questions and concerns about vaping and how the younger generations are exposed to that,” Howell said.
“So I think educational programming is a very big piece of this puzzle.”
She said her department will soon release a report with feedback from last year’s public consultations.
But actions may be a long time coming. Some would require legislative changes, and the House of Assembly is now closed. There will almost certainly be an election before it sits again.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government expects to receive more than $500-million from the tobacco litigation settlement over the next 20 to 30 years.
It booked the entire amount in this year’s pre-election budget.
There were a series of fiery clashes in the legislature between the governing Liberals and Opposition Progressive Conservatives in the wake of CBC News reporting on the issue earlier this month.
Resolution of the tobacco litigation has been a long time coming. The origins of the legal action date all the way back to the 1990s.
In March, Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz approved a $32.5-billion compensation plan to be paid by three tobacco companies.
A portion of the cash will go to some smokers who were diagnosed with cancer.
Provincial and territorial governments will split about three-quarters of the overall amount — just over $24.7 billion.
A chunk of the compensation will be paid up front. The remainder will flow over the next couple of decades, with the tobacco companies forking over the majority of their net after-tax income until the $32.5-billion is paid in full.
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