New Brunswick will get hundreds of millions of dollars from a historic settlement against tobacco companies.

Last week, the Ontario Superior Court approved the $32.5-billion deal involving three major tobacco companies.

Most of that money, more than $24 billion, will be paid to provinces and territories over about two decades.

Plaintiffs in two Quebec class-action lawsuits will get more than $4 billion while smokers not included in the lawsuits will receive $2.5 billion.

In the case of New Brunswick, the province is expected to receive an estimated $614 million, according to the health department.

Nearly $150 million of that will come up front with the remainder being paid to the province over the coming years.

“I am pleased to announce a resolution of our effort to recover money for our health-care system from the tobacco companies that have sold cigarettes in Canada,” Health Minister John Dornan said in a statement on Friday.

“New Brunswick was instrumental in launching this litigation nearly 20 years ago, and we are pleased to see this historic decision today.”

Dornan noted that adult smoking rates in our province have declined from 26 per cent in 2000 to 13 per cent today.

Youth smoking rates have also declined, from 14 per cent in 2018-19 to 6.6 per cent today.

“Our objective is to reach zero per cent, to help protect the health of New Brunswickers for the future,” he added.