Quebec to pass legislation allowing it to sue pharmaceutical companies for role in opioid crisis

Quebec is set to introduce legislation that would enable it to join a putative class-action lawsuit against dozens of players in the pharmaceutical industry over opioid-related harms.

The more than 40 defendants include manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma, whose OxyContin pain pill has been implicated in Canada’s overdose epidemic; retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. and the Jean Coutu Group Inc.; and distributors and wholesalers. B.C. introduced the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act in 2018, empowering it to pursue class actions on behalf of the federal government and other provincial governments.

Suzanne Chiodo, an associate professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and an expert in class actions, said that if Quebec joins the lawsuit, Jean Coutu and Pro Doc’s claim that the B.C. courts cannot take jurisdiction over them would likely fail, as has already happened in B.C. Supreme Court.

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