The federal government is poised to join a class-action lawsuit being launched by the B.C. government against McKinsey and Co., which accuses the global management consulting firm of “false, reckless, and deceptive marketing campaigns” aimed at boosting opioid sales, according to a report.
Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister of mental health and addictions, said in a statement that if the class-action suit is certified as scheduled by next year, then the Liberal government will “also formally become a class member in it,” according to a Globe and Mail
report published on May 18.
The B.C. government’s statement of claim in the lawsuit alleges that McKinsey “created or assisted in the creation of an epidemic of addiction in British Columbia and throughout every province and territory in Canada,” and says the consulting firm’s actions in the matter have “caused deaths and serious and long-lasting injury to public peace, health, order and safety.”
Over 34,400 Canadians died due to “opioid toxicity” between January 2016 and September 2022, according to federal
statistics.
From January through March of this year,
595 people died in B.C. alone due to drug overdoses, according to the province’s coroner.
The statement of claim against McKinsey further alleges that the company has caused Canadian opioid-related deaths through its previous marketing advice to pharmaceutical companies, such as Purdue Pharma, while also saying McKinsey was aware at the time that the “opioids were addictive and were being aggressively promoted to treat conditions that opioids are not effective in treating.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Health Canada for confirmation of its intention to join the lawsuit against McKinsey but did not receive a response before press time.
McKinsey denied the allegations in court documents filed in February, which said the consulting firm is “not a manufacturer or distributor of opioids” and also that there is “no meaningful connection between McKinsey and the opioid crisis in Canada,”
according to the Globe.
If Ottawa does officially join the lawsuit, it would come after the Liberal government has awarded over
$100 million worth of contracts to McKinsey since 2015.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has previously
said that if he is elected prime minister in the future he will launch a series of lawsuits against large pharmaceutical companies due to their alleged role in Canada’s opioid and addiction crisis.
“The people who profited from this misery should be the ones to pay the bill,”
he said on March 14, adding, “These powerful multinationals knew exactly what they were doing, but they kept doing it anyway to profit themselves and their wealthy executives.”
Marnie Cathcart, Noé Chartier, and Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.
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