It seems that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will be going ahead with their plan to sue big tobacco 10 years after passing the enabling legislation.
Working at the public hearings held before the passage of the legislation that got this ball rolling was one of my first responsibilities as page when I started working at the House of Assembly in April 2001. Though I think I only worked for one such session I still remember quite a number of the presenters that participated in the event.
In many ways the presentations pretty much summed up the whole pro/anti-tobacco discourse. On the anti side there were presentations from older individuals suffering from tobacco related ailments, an anti-tobacco 'youth team,' and several doctors. Opposing the legislation and the idea of the lawsuit was a lone tobacco industry advocate - a lawyer/law professor if my memory serves me correctly. Given that the tobacco advocate was a hired gun it isn't too surprising that they gave the most professional and effective presentation of the day. And, for better or worse, it is their presentation that I remember the most.
Actually, as far as presentations on dry topics go, this may have been most engaging presentation I have ever heard - and it was in the service of an industry with a somewhat tarnished reputation, a fact that has since made me feel a little strange about finding it to be such an effective presentation. But I guess this is basically the movie Thank You For Smoking was about.
Of course, to no one's surprise, the legislation was eventually passed and the chain of events leading up to today's story set in action.
Anyway, if it has taken 10 years to get to through the pre-lawsuit I am curious to see how long it will take to get through the full-blown lawsuit phase and whether or not not they will ever meet with any success.
Score
Cameron 26
Neil 0
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