follow the tobacco settlement money
I knew something wasn't sitting right with me about B.C.'s tobacco settlement.
So I started following the paper trail.
Here is what we know.
In 2025, B.C. announced that it would receive more than $3.6 billion over approximately 18 years from the historic tobacco litigation settlement. The first payment was $936 million.
The total Canadian settlement is valued at $32.5 billion.
And B.C.'s government said its share would provide resources for cancer treatment, primary care, treatment research and smoking cessation.
But then we get to the accounting.
B.C.'s financial documents record a one-time net revenue of $2.7 billion from the tobacco settlement in 2025/26. The government explains that this represents B.C.'s portion of the global award, net of legal costs and discounted because the payments will occur over many years.
And Budget 2026 explicitly says that this $2.7-billion tobacco settlement reduced the projected provincial deficit.
That is where I want to stop and ask questions.
I am not saying the money has been stolen.
I am not saying the government has broken the law.
I am saying that billions of dollars resulting from decades of tobacco-related harm deserve extraordinary transparency.
If this money is supposed to help address the damage caused by tobacco, show British Columbians exactly how it is being used.
Where is the accounting trail?
How much has gone to cancer treatment?
How much to primary care?
How much to treatment research?
How much to smoking cessation and prevention?
And what about the people already struggling with addiction and mental health?
What about education?
What about young people?
What about art and creative programs that give people connection, purpose, expression and alternatives to addiction?
I want prevention, not just treatment after people are already sick.
I want education before addiction begins.
I want accessible addiction treatment and recovery.
I want mental-health support.
I want communities to have tools to heal.
And I want an independent investigation to follow the money from the tobacco companies, through the settlement and B.C.'s accounts, to the programs and expenditures it ultimately supports.
The government has told us what this settlement is intended to accomplish.
Now let's see the evidence.
ICIJ — please follow the money.
And B.C. Auditor General: please follow the accounting.
This isn't an accusation.
It's a request for accountability.
Because if billions were recovered from an industry for the harm it caused, British Columbians deserve to know whether those billions are actually helping prevent and repair that harm.
10 Questions
Why was $2.7 billion recognized as one-time revenue, and exactly how was that figure calculated?
Where is the $936-million first payment today, and what specific expenditures can be traced to it?
How much of the settlement has actually been spent on cancer treatment, primary care, treatment research and smoking cessation — the purposes the government publicly identified?
How much has simply improved the province's overall fiscal position by reducing the deficit?
Is there a dedicated accounting trail that allows the public to distinguish tobacco-settlement money from ordinary provincial revenue?
What independent oversight exists over the settlement funds?
What measurable prevention programs are being funded so fewer young people become addicted to nicotine?
Why shouldn't a portion support mental-health and addiction treatment for people already living with the consequences of substance dependence?
Could community arts, creative education and arts-based healing be funded as part of a broader prevention strategy — and if not, why not?
ICIJ, B.C. Auditor General and investigative journalists: will you follow the money all the way from the tobacco companies to the final public benefit?
#FollowTheMoney #TobaccoSettlement #BCPoli #PublicAccountability #Transparency #PublicHealth #AddictionPrevention #MentalHealth #ArtsForHealing #ICIJ
