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A $10-billion provincial lawsuit against tobacco companies that launched more than five years ago continues to plod along while the Alberta government considers taking action against pharmaceutical companies over opioid addictions.

Litigation to recover smoking related health-care costs is in the document production phase, said Alberta Health spokesman Rob Gereghty in an email Friday, adding the province has provided more than 145,000 pages of records to the tobacco defendants and will soon deliver a second set of 370,000 pages.

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“A case management meeting is currently set for Sept. 21 … at which time the province will seek to have a court ordered timetable set for the next steps in the litigation,” he said.

The former Progressive Conservative government had filed suit against 14 Canadian and international tobacco firms in 2012, making a move similar to other provinces.

The case has been marred in controversy after former premier Alison Redford was accused of wrongdoing in how she selected a law firm to represent the province.