On October 8, 2025, the B.C. government introduced for first reading Bill 24 – 2025, the Vaping Products Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act (the Proposed Act), which would grant the Province a right of action against manufacturers, wholesalers, and consultants to recover the cost of health care benefits caused or contributed to by a ‘vaping-related wrong.’ The Proposed Act is similar to legislation the province has enacted with respect to tobacco products and opioids. It is also essentially a narrowed version of the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, which the government introduced but did not pass in 2024, and which would have given the government a right of action to sue a person to recover the cost of health care benefits with respect to health-related wrongs related to any product, service, or by-product. (Unlike the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, the Proposed Act does not provide a commensurate cause of action to the Government of Canada).
Under the Proposed Act, the province would be able to recover health care costs for particular individuals, or on an aggregate basis for a population of benefit recipients. The Province would also be entitled to bring such actions on behalf of a class consisting of “one or more governments of a jurisdiction within Canada,” and need only prove that:
- a defendant breached a duty or obligation to benefit recipients who used or have been exposed to, or might be exposed to, a vaping product;
- using or being exposed to the vaping product can cause or contribute to disease, injury, or loss; and
- the product was offered for distribution, sale, or use in British Columbia
The Province’s right to recover benefit costs would apply with respect to both historical and prospective health care benefits related the risk of or actual disease, injury, or illness related to the use of vaping products. The Province can provide ‘conclusive proof’ the total value of such past and future benefits based on a certificate purporting to have been issued by or on behalf of a minister of the government, which would make it very difficult to challenge the accuracy or reasonableness of such estimated costs.
The Province’s right to recover the cost of health care benefits under the Proposed Act is not limited by another party’s recovery in relation to damage caused or contributed to by the vaping-related wrong, which could result in defendants being found liable to individual users and the government on behalf of those users.
The use of such causes of action is not an empty threat. The Province recently received the first payment of nearly $1 billion of the total $3.6 billion it will receive through a settlement in a lawsuit against tobacco companies, and is proceeding in class action litigation against opioid manufacturers and consultants.
In its current form, the Proposed Act exempts retailers of vaping products, so long as they are not related to vapour product manufacturers (either because they are an affiliate of the manufacturer pursuant to the Business Corporation Act or the manufacturer exercises some form of control over the retailers operations). It does, however, contemplate liability for ‘consultants’ who provide advisory services to a wholesaler in relation to the distribution, sale, or offering for sale of vaping products, or to a manufacturer in relation to the sale of vaping products, as well as trade associations who primarily engage in advancing the interests of manufacturers, promoting vaping products, or causing, directly or indirectly, other persons to engage in promoting vaping products.
The Proposed Act also expressly excludes devices or substances governed by the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act.