Benjamin Kemball, CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada, says that a pending lawsuit filed by the province of British Colombia could drive his company out of business, Bloomberg News reported Oct. 17.

The lawsuit is seeking billions of dollars from the tobacco industry to pay for treating sick smokers; a provincial law passed in 2000 allows such suits if tobacco companies are found to have failed to warn customers about the dangers of smoking. The Canadian Supreme Court upheld the law last year.

Kemball said that if tobacco companies fold because of the law, it will benefit the black market for cigarettes. "I don't believe for one minute that any smoker will give up smoking just because Imperial Tobacco Canada closes its doors," he said.

But a spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society said that if the lawsuit forces some companies out of business, other legal suppliers, not smugglers, would fill the void.

Other Canadian provinces, including Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, have passed laws similar to British Colombia's.