A settlement that would see the three big tobacco giants cough up billions of dollars in compensation to the provinces, territories and smokers themselves, has been approved by the companies’ creditors.

But the Canadian Cancer Society says the proposed deal in this country is missing some key elements that are included in the U.S. settlement.

The $32.5-billion agreement between the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — and their creditors was announced in October after more than five years of negotiations.

Lawyers for the creditors, which include provincial governments seeking to recoup smoking-related health-care costs, mostly voted to approve the deal on Thursday.

But it must still be approved by the court, with a hearing scheduled for late January to do just that.

At least one of the companies has said it opposes the plan in its current form. It includes $24 billion for provinces and territories, $4 billion for thousands of Quebec smokers and their families, and more than $2.5 billion for smokers in other provinces and territories.

There’s also more than $1 billion for a foundation to help those affected by tobacco-related diseases.

But the Canadian Cancer Society still calls it “insufficient” because it contains no program or policy to actually target and reduce tobacco use, which is part of the previous U.S. settlement.

The cancer society is calling for changes, before it’s approved, to allow the new foundation to be able to fund programs to reduce smoking such as cessation and awareness campaigns, as well as banning tobacco promotion.

And they’re seeking the support of provincial governments for those amendments.

“The U.S. deal established a foundation to reduce tobacco use that continues to this day; restricted tobacco industry marketing, and made public millions of pages of internal industry documents,” the Canadian Cancer Society said in a statement.

“However, none of these measures are in the proposed Canadian settlement.”