N.S. to receive $809M from settlement with tobacco companies
Province expected to get $200M in first year, remainder over next 15 to 20 years
The Nova Scotia government is set to receive $809 million from tobacco companies for the impact smoking has had on the health-care system.
Nova Scotia joined the country's other provinces and territories in suing the companies for health-care costs related to tobacco use. A mediated settlement was approved by the Superior Court of Ontario on Thursday.
"First of all, we want to acknowledge the hundreds of millions of dollars that smoking has cost the system alone, but the biggest cost has been to people's health and lives," Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson told reporters on Friday.
Nova Scotia is expected to receive $200 million in the first year and the remaining money over the next 15 to 20 years.
The total value of the settlement is $32.5 billion, with the provinces getting $24.7 billion.
Thompson said while the money will go into general revenues, it will be used to bolster the province's health-care budget.
"I think any time that we have an injection of money into the health-care system or into our coffers as a government, it allows us to put that money towards health, whether that's health promotion and prevention or whether that's enhanced screening or treatments," Thompson said.
"Certainly that money will go towards all of those things, but to what degree and amount I really can't tell you today."
