Tobacco litigation: groups call for investment in prevention

Groups campaigning for tobacco control want part of the money Quebec will get from the agreement ending litigation against the three biggest tobacco companies to be invested in prevention.

“With the agreement with the tobacco manufacturers, there is a historic opportunity to reduce the illnesses and deaths caused by tobacco,” pleaded Robert Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society.

Five health groups have therefore written to Premier François Legault, Health Minister Christian Dubé and Finance Minister Eric Girard.

They are asking Quebec to take advantage of the financial benefits of the agreement to invest an additional $30 million a year for five years to step up the fight against smoking and vaping, which represents 2.7 per cent of what the province will obtain.

“Quebec will receive $6.6 billion with this agreement, and it is essential that a significant proportion of this money be invested in anti-smoking programmes,” said Cunningham.

For Flory Doucas, co-director and spokesperson for the Coalition Québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac, it is above all a “moral obligation on the part of the government to devote part of this amount to prevention.”

“The money that the provinces will get will not come from money that already exists,” she said. “It is the smokers of today and tomorrow who will pay the amounts that will be collected.”

Deeming the agreement “bad,” she criticised the lack of measures to reduce smoking and to force companies to change their business model.
Doucas believes that using some of the money from the agreement would make it possible to fill this gap by investing in new or existing programmes.

In her opinion, the Tobacco Control Act should also be modernised, with better monitoring of the industry, while cigarette manufacturers have put forward new strategies.

“Subsequently, we think that it is the industry itself that should pay for the financing of the fight against smoking. That’s what’s going to happen at federal level,” she explained.

A public health problem

Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable illness and death in Quebec, killing 36 smokers in the province every day.

While Quebec’s tobacco victims will share $4.1 billion from cigarette manufacturers, Cunningham stressed the importance of also preventing new victims.

“If we reduce smoking, we’ll reduce cancer and other diseases, and we’ll reduce healthcare costs in the future. It’s a win-win strategy for Quebec,” he stressed.

The provincial government has already created tobacco control programmes, but “much more needs to be done,” according to Cunningham.

The groups also pointed to the fact that the provinces and territories were opposed to funding smoking prevention or cessation interventions through the Cy-près Foundation for reasons of provincial jurisdiction.

“As a result, it is their responsibility to have programmes and initiatives to reduce smoking,” argued Cunningham, who pointed out that $1 billion must come from the agreement for this independent foundation.

When asked about the letter, the office of the Minister of Health indicated that he had mandated Public Health to develop the first National Prevention Strategy.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews