I was walking through the lobby at work today and I happened to catch glance at the T.V monitors reporting that Chris Bentley - Ontario's Attorney General and member of the provincial legislature – announced on Tuesday that the province has filed a
$50 billion lawsuit against major tobacco companies.
The lawsuit seeks damages "for past and ongoing healthcare costs linked to tobacco-related illness," said a media release from the Ontario government.
Under the
Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, which passed the provincial legislature this year, Ontario can file suits against companies seeking the recovery of tobacco-related damages. Although the new law allows government to move forward with the process, it is still required to prove its allegations in court. British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba have also enacted tobacco-cost recovery laws.
What a novel idea! Holding corporations
responsible for the social and health related problems their products cause! i can already hear the chorus of conservative and market-fundamentalists crying out against what they perceive to be the excesses of “socialist” or “communist” policy.
But in reality what we are seeing in this case is responsible government actualized. Isn’t it the government’s function to
promote health in its communities? Isn’t it a government’s function to
regulate private interests which seek to gain at the expense of a large number of people in a population? Indeed.
But, of course, conservatives and corporate zealots alike don’t really want a functioning government that works for
public interest – they want a quasi-functioning façade government that acts as a proxy for elite power plays and private capital gains. For many elites, government is merely an arena in which to wage a series of
strategic wars against institutions and policies that would limit their personal access to wealth and power.
Premier Dalton McGuinty’s
Liberal majority government should be widely praised for at least making the attempt to be a legitimate governing body.
Learn More: Here
"My dear friend, what is this our life? A boat that swims in the sea, and all one knows for certain about it is that one day it will capsize. Here we are, two good old boats that have been faithful neighbors, and above all your hand has done its best to keep me from "capsizing"! Let us then continue our voyage—each for the other's sake, for a long time yet, a long time! We should miss each other so much! Tolerably calm seas and good winds and above all sun—what I wish for myself, I wish for you, too, and am sorry that my gratitude can find expression only in such a wish and has no influence at all on wind or weather!"
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