MONTREAL: Quebec’s appeals court on Friday upheld a historic ruling ordering three tobacco firms to pay Can$15.5 billion ($11.6 billion) to smokers in the Canadian province who claimed they were never warned about the health risks associated with smoking.
Imperial Tobacco Canada, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald have one month to launch an eventual appeal before Canada’s Supreme Court.
In June 2015, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that the three companies should pay the whopping amount to tens of thousands of smokers suffering from emphysema, lung cancer or throat cancer.
According to media reports, accruing interest will bring the final amount to more than Can$17 billion.
The two class action lawsuits behind the award, which were originally filed in 1998, affected nearly one million smokers or ex-smokers, some of whom had been consuming tobacco since the 1960s. The trial only began in March 2012.
“We are disappointed with today’s decision,” Imperial Tobacco Canada spokesman Eric Gagnon told reporters. “As the ruling in the lower court showed, Canadian consumers know the risks associated with tobacco use. We should not be held responsible.”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs meanwhile celebrated the “historic” ruling, going so far as to call it a “masterpiece.”
“The ruling reached the same conclusions as did the lower court, solidifies them and confirms that the companies conspired for 50 years to lie to the public,” one of the attorneys, Andre L’Esperance, told journalists.
“This is a total victory, on all fronts,” added his colleague Philippe Trudel.
The lower court had ruled that the companies failed in their general duty “not to cause injury to another person” and to inform their customers of the risks associated with their products.
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Canada appeals court upholds landmark tobacco ruling
Canada appeals court upholds landmark tobacco ruling
Taiwan to send team to assess US rare earth deposits
TAIPEI: Taiwan plans to send officials to assess US rare earths deposits with a goal to have such minerals refined on the island, Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to secure US supplies of critical minerals after China rattled senior officials and global markets last year by withholding rare earths required by American automakers and other industrial manufacturers.
Trump last week launched a US strategic stockpile of critical minerals, called Project Vault, backed by $10 billion in seed funding from the US Export-Import Bank and $2 billion in private funding.
While semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is not formally part of that scheme, it has previously held talks with the United States on how it can help, given Taipei’s concerns about over-reliance on a China-centric supply chain.
China views Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up its military threats.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said the ministry’s Geological Survey and Mining Management Agency would go to the United States to assess rare earths deposits there.
“Specifically, what rare-earth elements they contain and whether they are suitable. In other words, whether those are the rare earths we actually need. So we still need to investigate,” he said.
Given Taiwan does not mine such elements itself, it can instead play a role in refining the materials from other countries, Kung added.
“The technology is not an issue; the next step is scaling up,” he said.
Taiwan consumes 1,500 metric tons of rare earth annually, a figure projected to rise to 2,000 metric tons given economic growth, Kung added.
“Our goal is to expand production capacity to meet half of our demand by then, strengthening the supply chain.
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