April 12, 2000
(Justice)

Tobacco Legislation

The following statement was issued today by Kelvin Parsons, Minister of Justice. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

Earlier today I and my colleague, the Hon. Roger Grimes, participated in a news conference to announce government�s intention to proceed with legislative changes to pursue legal action against tobacco companies.

This is the first step on the road toward recovering health care costs incurred by the province as a result of tobacco products. The care of those individuals impacted by tobacco has placed a significant financial burden on the province and government believes that this burden should be rightly borne by tobacco manufacturers and not the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Government of British Columbia is leading the way in Canada in this new area of liability and civil litigation. B.C. has put forward legislation in support of legal action against tobacco companies.

In February 2000, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that parts of the proposed legislation violated the constitution. The Court upheld more than 80 per cent of the B.C. legislation and the Government of British Columbia announced in March 2000 its intention to amend and re-enact the Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act.

It is important that we in this province have the proper statutory framework in place in order to initiate action. That is why my department is closely monitoring the progress of legislation in British Columbia. We plan to review B.C.�s amended legislation prior to finalizing legislation in this province.

It is intended that the legislation would affirm government�s right to seek compensation for the health care costs incurred and address certain rules of evidence and procedure.

We intend to work closely with the Government of British Columbia with regard to both legislation and research. In fact, we are entering into a collaboration agreement with B.C. to share research in this matter. This will benefit both provinces.

I am also pleased today to inform my honourable colleagues that we have a legal team in place to assist us in this initiative. We have retained Graham Watton, Q.C., Dennis Browne, Q.C., and Jamie Smith as legal consultants to assist in the development of legislation and act on government�s behalf in litigation against tobacco manufacturers.

In addition, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Community Services will form an instructing committee. This committee, comprised of senior officials from both departments, will provide guidance and advice to the legal team.