Immigration and Citizenship Minister Diane Finley said the amount represents the funding of the government's Tobacco Transition Program "to help producers exit the industry, transition to other crops or find new opportunities outside agriculture," according to CBC.ca. The program is a federal strategy to fight smoking and the dangers it pose to health.
The money is coming from a fine of more than $1 billion levied by an Ontario judge Thursday against two of Canada's largest tobacco companies, Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Benson & Hedges, for smuggling cigarettes across the border in the 1990s, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told CBC.ca.
Hundreds of farmers and their families turned out to hear the announcement in Delhi, the heart of Ontario's tobacco region. Many agreed to the offer, which was short of the $1 billion exit money they originally asked.
