Gates Foundation Cuts Funds to Canadian Project Over Tobacco Link

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has canceled a $5.2-million grant to a Canadian project to curb smoking in Africa, citing a key player’s ties to the tobacco industry, according to The New York Times and The Canadian Press.

Barbara J. McDougall, a former member of parliament who chairs the Canadian government’s International Development Research Centre, also served until a few weeks ago as a director of Imperial Tobacco Canada, that country’s largest tobacco firm.

The Seattle foundation announced Monday it was withdrawing funds for the research center’s planned two-year Africa tobacco-control effort, saying Ms. McDougall’s participation represented a conflict of interest.

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