On Sept. 19, the Herald published an opinion column by the heads of three Canadian health groups, calling for provinces to dedicate a large portion of the $32.5-billion tobacco litigation settlement to prevention and control of tobacco and nicotine use. Their arguments sound compelling, but they leave out key facts that Canadians deserve to hear.
First, this settlement is not an open-ended health fund. It is a court-approved agreement designed to compensate provinces and territories for past health-care costs. Suggesting that it can, or should, finance every anti-tobacco program moving forward is misleading. The dollars are very significant, but they are finite. They must be invested wisely – in strategies that reduce smoking, not in rehashed, out-of-date campaigns that stigmatize smokers