Canadian Reflections on the Tobacco Wars: Some Unintended Consequences of Mass Tort Litigation

The perniciousness of tobacco smoking is now beyond doubt and the tobacco industry is the target of much private and public attack. In the United States class action litigation has been favoured over public regulation. In Canada, until recently, the main vehicle for controlling tobacco use has been through increasingly more strict public regulation. However, the enactment of class action legislation has resulted in anti-smoking advocates arguing for adoption of a similar litigation strategy in Canada. This article compares Canadian and US treatment of tobacco controls and critiques the respective litigation strategies. The author argues that differences of a cultural and social nature may make litigation an unwise choice for Canada and actually threaten to weaken the resolve to use legislative controls over price and tobacco advertising as a proven method to control tobacco usage.