At the Manitoba NDP convention in Winnipeg on Saturday, Premier Wab Kinew said an initial payment of hundreds of millions of dollars could arrive soon.
Manitoba sued major tobacco companies to recover the costs of providing health-care services for tobacco-related illness in 2012.
The cases were stalled by a range of court battles, but in March 2019 a group of people in Quebec received $13.5 billion in damages in a class-action lawsuit against the companies.
Robert Thornton, a lawyer for JTI-Macdonald, told CBC in an email that "all aspects of the mediation are confidential and no comment is possible by virtue of a court order."
Deborah Glendinning, a lawyer for Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited, said negotiations are being conducted via a court-ordered mediation, and public comment would be a violation of the court order.
Jeffrey Leon, a lawyer representing six provinces — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia — also declined comment, citing ongoing litigation.
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