Leona Dombrowsky

Provincial minister says no one told her federal tobacco buyout details

This week, the federal government collected fines and civil compensation from tobacco companies totaling $1.15 billion for orchestrating a cigarette smuggling operation in the 1990s, and promptly passed on a little more than $300 million to hardpressed growers and tobacco belt communities. Provincial agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky says nobody told her about the buyout and she strongly disagrees with the way it is being financed.