Ontario Suing for $2,536,783.36/day

The province of Ontario is launching a $50B dollar lawsuit against tobacco companies, citing damages "for past and ongoing healthcare costs linked to tobacco-related illness.”

They are set to join the province of British Columbia in its suit against tobacco companies. Last years judgement by the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the British Columbia government can sue cigarette companies for the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses. This judgement upholds provincial legislation that allows the government to seek damages to cover public health care costs dating back 50 years as well as future costs for illness linked to tobacco.

British Columbia is scheduled for this fight next year sometime. New Brunswick has filed similar suit.

The $50-billion figure represents the cost the province says it has footed for providing health care to smokers for more than half a century.

"The amount of $50 billion will have to be proven in court, of course, but that is our view of the costs of health-care-related illnesses directly tied to tobacco from 1955 until now," Bentley told reporters outside the provincial legislature.

The lawsuit names 14 tobacco companies based in Canada, the U.S. and England. Among those named in the suit is Canada's largest tobacco manufacturer, Imperial Tobacco Co., a wholly owned unit of British American Tobacco of London. It sells cigarettes under such well-known brands as du Maurier and Player's.

Imperial spokesman Eric Gagnon said the suit came as no surprise given the legislation, but suggested the Ontario government was being hypocritical.

"They're collecting billions of dollars in taxes, and right now they are turning and suing the tobacco companies," Gagnon said from Montreal. "This is a legal product and we do it in the way the government dictates us to do it.”

Tobacco companies in Canada operate under stringent legislation that limits advertising by cigarette companies, restricts the sale of cigarettes to minors and regulates how cigarettes can be displayed in stores.

The government also regulates other products, such as alcohol and casinos, which can pose significant health and safety risks, Gagnon noted. "Are they going to sue those industries?" he said. "From our perspective this does not make any sense.”

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