44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 30, 2024
- This bill aims to prevent food and beverage marketing directed at children under 13 years old by amending the Food and Drugs Act. The bill was introduced due to increasing rates of childhood obesity in Canada and the negative impact of marketing contributing to excess sugar, saturated fats, or sodium in children's diets. The bill also includes provisions for reviewing and monitoring the effectiveness of the act and considering children aged 13-16 in advertising regulations. The act comes into force one year after receiving royal assent.
- Yea (222)
- Nay (120)
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, last week, members of this House voted on my private member's bill, Bill C-252, which aims to prohibit the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children aged 13 and under. While the Bloc and the NDP voted in favour of this initiative to protect the health of children, the Conservatives voted against it, once again demonstrating that the health of Canadians is always their last priority.
Could the Minister of Health please speak to the importance of the child health protection act?
87 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
I declare the motion carried.
5 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
It being 3:28 p.m., the House will now proceed to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion at third reading stage of Bill C-252, under Private Members' Business.
Call in the members.
38 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Pursuant to Standing Order 98, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, October 25, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions.
24 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege for me to rise this evening in this House to bring forward once again my private member's bill, Bill C-252, which aims to prohibit the marketing of certain foods and beverages directly to children.
I would like to begin by sincerely thanking all my colleagues here for offering their opinions and contributing to the important conversation on Bill C-252, which has sparked very interesting conversations. It is abundantly clear from many of the exchanges that the issue of marketing of certain foods and beverages to kids is one that many of us care deeply about and is a practice we want to see stopped. I am grateful for the overwhelmingly positive and supportive comments made by my colleagues about Bill C-252 and remain confident that we will be able to pass this bill over to the Senate in the coming days.
I would like to take a second to acknowledge the importance of the leadership that Quebec, my home province, took on this issue in the 1980s and to acknowledge Senator Greene Raine's efforts in 2016 with a previous and different version of this bill. Simply put, we have had plenty of time to discuss the essence of Bill C-252 and its impacts. I respect all my colleagues for their work and their perspectives and enjoyed the opportunity to hear them speak to this issue at length.
Truthfully, we are past the time for debate and are very much at the time when action is necessary. In the intervening years while we have been waiting to act, things have only gotten worse. If we continue to remain idle on this issue, kids' health and the consequences of marketing foods rich in salt, sugar or saturated fats to kids will not improve.
Inaction will mean that our children will continue to be manipulated by this multi-billion dollar industry. Relying on powerful multinational companies to self-regulate and reduce their targeting of children has only been proven unsuccessful. Our children remain at risk and will continue to be unjustly influenced and led to develop poor eating habits that we scientifically know to be detrimental to their health. Rates of obesity will only continue to rise, and the burden on our health care system will only grow.
We can see plainly that we have more than passed the time for action. We must fulfill our duty as parliamentarians and, for many of us, as parents to protect our children's health. We must heed the calls of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, which have been resolute and unequivocal on the very clear harm that the marketing of certain foods and beverages to children can cause to their overall well-being.
As members may be aware, Norway's government just voted this past June to adopt very similar legislation. Norway is not alone in this endeavour, and a growing number of countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, are also developing similar legislation after years of seeing the ineffectiveness of industries' self-regulation. The international community is moving in the right direction and taking steps and legislative measures to tackle the issue of marketing to kids. Let us draw a lesson from Norway and other countries that place the importance of children's health before the monetary interests of multi-billion dollar industries. Let us pass Bill C-252, but let us do it now.
I would like to thank the stakeholders and researchers who have advocated for the passage of Bill C-252 and to sincerely thank my colleagues in the House and at the health committee for their comments and questions. Voting in favour of Bill C-252 means supporting concerned parents across Canada who currently have to battle against the influence of a multi-billion dollar industry. It means supporting parents who are trying to teach their children to develop healthy eating habits. It means accepting the best science available on this issue and listening to the growing chorus of researchers and health care professionals who have been telling us for years that this legislation is needed. It means joining the international community in its growing efforts to improve the well-being of children across the world. In short, voting in favour of this bill means prioritizing children's health and the well-being of kids from Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel and across the country from coast to coast to coast.
752 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, there is probably no one in this place who would disagree with the fact that I do not need to speak louder. I want to give a shout-out to our great interpreters and everybody who makes it possible for us to do the good work that we do in this place, including helping with some of those little technical issues.
I will get into some of the substance of the bill in just a second, but I was talking about Altario and the work people do there teaching kids. I saw an application letter that Principal Van Lagen shared the other day. It was incredible, because the applicant, who I believe was in grade nine, was applying to be the manager of the school farm. Can members imagine that? They are teaching kids and giving them those practical skills so they not only know how to eat healthy but also can be a part of that agricultural sector, which is pivotal in our nation.
When we come down to the root of this, we want Canadians to have access to healthy meals. I hope that every member of the House agrees with this, but when it comes to the practical reality of what the bill before us would accomplish, there are a few concerns I would like to highlight. One concern is that we need to make sure that we are, at every stage of the process, empowering parents to make the best call for their family in whatever their circumstance is. Whether they are part of an Inuit family in the north, a rural family in the area I represent or an inner-city family, every person needs to be empowered to make decisions that are best for them, and empowering parents needs to be at the root of this.
We also need to deal with things like food inflation. I will not speak at length about this, because I have in the past, but we need to address some of the challenges that are leading to food inflation, like the carbon tax and regulations that are adding some additional costs for farmers. That has to be addressed. Ultimately, we need to empower people to be prosperous at every step of the process. The best way we can ensure that people are healthy is to have an economy that is working for everyone.
I held a series of town halls, which I spoke about in a statement before question period today, and there are a lot of concerns that the folks from rural Alberta shared with me about how frustrated they are with the Liberal government. However, the number one concern brought forward at every town hall was the cost of living and the fear that people have for their future. I will highlight a couple of things that I believe need to be put on the record.
Legislation needs to be able to achieve its stated goal. Legislation in the province of Quebec, although it has regulations that address issues similar to ones in the legislation before us, has not done so. I am certainly concerned that the House would pass something that may not be able to be actualized in terms of a public policy objective. The regulations that are proposed in the bill are difficult to enforce. There is not very much clarity that it would be possible to see them brought about.
Something that has been highlighted specifically by a number of constituents, especially those who work very hard to do things like fundraising for school sports, is about sponsors, as in the case of Timbits hockey, for example. I would hate for the bill to accidentally limit the ability of Canadians to play soccer or hockey because of not allowing a company to sponsor kids to be able to do just that. It could be an incidental, and I hope not an intentional, part of the bill.
I have heard a great deal of support for the bill, and certainly there is widespread agreement that we need to have a plan to ensure that kids' and seniors' tummies are full. There is nothing more heartbreaking than when we hear a senior talk about having to limit their dietary intake. One tragic story is that a senior thought the only thing they could afford was pet food. We need to make sure we have a plan to address health and nutrition at every stage of the process.
Certainly, when it comes to the laudable objectives of the bill, healthier kids, it is great, but when it comes to actually delivering on those results, I am concerned that the bill falls far short of the mark that would deem it worthy of support in this place.
793 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, as always, it is great to be able to enter into debate on the important issues that matter to Canadians.
If the House could indulge me for just a moment before I get into the substance of Bill C-252, I want to pass along a big thanks. This Saturday marks four years since I was first elected as the member of Parliament for Battle River—Crowfoot. It is a great honour for me, along with the class of 2019, to be able to take my place in this hallowed chamber to stand up for the good people of, in my case, east central Alberta.
First, I pass along my deep thanks and appreciation to my wife Danielle and my three boys. I did not have three boys at the time and now I do: Matthew, Emerson and Winston. I could not do this without them. I thank the rest of my family as well for their support over the last four years.
Of course, one does not start one's political career on election day. There is work that goes into politics prior to that. I give a massive thanks to those who have helped in various campaigns and to those on my EDA and political association. I thank those who, since I first got involved at the age of 15, have been on this political journey with me. I have the honour of being a part of it.
I, like so many in this place, am so deeply appreciative of the work that office staff do to help make sure that we can accomplish the good work we do in standing up for our constituents in this place and back in our constituencies.
Of course, I thank the people of Battle River—Crowfoot. For the last two elections, I have been honoured to receive a mandate and serve the 110,000 people. They are on about 53,000 square kilometres of beautiful, east central Alberta real estate. It is cowboy country. It truly is an honour.
I will continue to stand for those rural values and for democracy each and every day. I look forward to, after the next election, standing behind who I hope will be the new prime minister who brings home common sense to our country. I thank the people of Battle River—Crowfoot for a great four years. I look forward to continuing to fight for many more years to bring common sense home to Canada.
We are debating a bill and its subject matter is something that I would be very surprised if anyone disagreed with. We want to ensure that there are healthy diets for kids across our country. As a father of three young boys, my wife Danielle and I take great pains to work and budget to ensure they have healthy meals. Especially in light of the cost of living crisis we see in this country, that is becoming an increasingly challenging circumstance.
It has been talked about substantially in this place over the last number of years, and especially with Thanksgiving just over a week ago. We saw how the dramatic increase in prices has put significant pressure on so many families. When it comes to ensuring that there is fairness, we need to empower people to understand exactly what they are eating.
We need to have regulations in place that support food safety and transparency, and that the ingredient list actually includes that. For example, something could claim to be organic. We want to have truth behind the whole process of our food supply chain. I know we dealt with it in this place, the fact that the Liberals wanted to label ground beef as being unhealthy, but not potato chips or candy bars.
I hope we would all agree in this place, though I sometimes wonder with some of the activist actions that have been taken by other parties, that we want to ensure healthy diets for everyone, especially for our young people in those formative, developmental years. We need to ensure their tummies are full when kids go to school in the morning. There are examples of this.
I have heard from many across my constituency and across the country. I would specifically give a big shout-out to Altario school. It is located about 45 minutes from my hometown of Consort. Principal Van Lagen has done an incredible job. The school has a greenhouse where it sells vegetables to the community. There is a farm at the school. The school sell animals and produces high-quality food for the local community. This little town of only several dozen people in the community of Altario is able to feed more than the number of people in the community.
We talk about the need to ensure that there is a healthy diet for all—
813 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I do not know if I am changing or the member for Winnipeg Centre is, but this is second time this week I completely agree with everything she has said.
I genuinely appreciate her comments today, in particular about a basic income, but also about, more generally speaking, the food sharing program we absolutely need to bring into our schools throughout the country.
I want to congratulate the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel for introducing this very important bill. Once again, we see Quebec, which has had this legislation in place for decades now, has led the way, like it quite often does on other issues socially, or the environment, for example.
This is critically important. It is important that our children, who are in the age of developing and whose minds are still developing, are not subject to a bombardment of detrimental and unhealthy choices at such a young age. I have two children under the age of 13, and I think of how easily they are influenced by what they are seeing. The forms of media have changed so much since I was a child. Nowadays children are watching much more YouTube and more custom and tailored shows. We are seeing these advertisements come across in a way I certainly was not exposed to. When I was younger, we would sit in front of a TV on Saturday morning to watch cartoons. These ads would pop up, and our parents could be kind of looking our shoulder to see what we were watching. It is much more difficult now.
I also completely agree with the comments from the member for Winnipeg Centre about this being a preventative step. This is about helping to prepare children so they can have the best shot at life in terms of health.
I am going to keep my comments very short. It is very refreshing to see the entire chamber support this initiative. The only thing I wish I could ask is that this be extended to grandparents too, because my mother, my children's grandmother, quite often purchases unhealthy stuff. Maybe that will be tackled at a later time.
Congratulations to the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel for bringing this forward. This is a very important initiative, and I look forward to it making its way over to the Senate next and becoming law so we can move forward on this very important initiative.
413 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of Bill C-252, the child health protection act.
For many years, the NDP has been calling for a law to stop junk food advertising aimed at children, and 11 years ago we called for such a ban, but no action was taken by successive Conservative and Liberal governments. I am hopeful that with the support from all parties, we can pass this bill and stop the barrage of junk food ads directed toward kids.
I am also hoping that we go further than that, by putting in place a national school food program that gives every child the nutritious food they need to thrive.
The evidence is clear that banning junk food directed at young children leads to better health outcomes. Quebec has had such a ban in place for over 40 years and the results speak for themselves. Fast food consumption in Quebec has gone down by 13% since the law was put in place. In addition, Quebec has the lowest obesity rates among five- to 17-year-olds and the highest consumption of fruits and vegetables in Canada.
It is a true nutrition success story that should be applied across the country. Not only will a law to stop junk food advertising benefit our kids' health, it also makes financial sense.
This is a preventative step that in the long term will mean fewer visits to the ER for preventable diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. At a time when our health care system is strained and faced with an aging population, it is a no-brainer for us to reduce the pressure on the system by passing this bill into law.
It is immoral for the CEOs of big food companies to be profiting off pushing junk food to young children. As much of 90%, in fact, of the food ads children see are for unhealthy food products and these ads are increasingly sophisticated. Companies are making money off selling products to young people that are harmful for their health.
This is wrong and it has to stop. Just as we have done with big tobacco companies in severely restricting advertising of their products, we must do the same with big food companies that are irresponsibly marketing junk food to young children.
While the ban on junk food aimed at children is an important first step, it is not enough. We cannot have a conversation about ensuring that our kids are getting proper nutrition without talking about poverty. Poverty makes it so much more difficult for families to make the healthy food choices they would like to make but are unable to because of the lack of money.
I recall a story. As a young early childhood educator, when we instituted a no-junk-food lunch policy, a mother shared with me that it was cheaper for her to buy a bag of cookies that lasts two weeks than a bag of apples that lasts a week.
We cannot talk about healthy food choices without addressing issues of poverty, especially in this affordability crisis we are living in, with persistently high grocery prices. Far too many people simply cannot afford healthy food to sustain a balanced diet. Eating healthy is expensive and preparing healthy meals can also be very time-consuming.
When one is working two or three jobs to make ends meet, which is not uncommon in this country, particular with the affordability crisis, time becomes a luxury one cannot afford, leading one to choose convenience foods that are quick and cheap but unhealthy.
I see it in my own riding of Winnipeg Centre, which has the highest child poverty rate of any riding in the country.
Too many kids are going to school on an empty stomach. Families are choosing between groceries and rent. Food banks are reporting record usage, and the temporary pandemic benefits that kept families afloat have expired and have not been maintained. Poverty is a form of economic violence. I have likened choosing to keep people poor to one of the worst human rights violations, and poverty is something that is faced by many of my constituents, including children, which robs them of the best possible start in life.
That is wrong, and it is a direct result of deliberate policy choices.
I believe we need to make different choices to eliminate poverty and ensure that every child gets the nutritious food they need. It is a choice, and the lack of political will to eradicate poverty, especially for children, is unacceptable. One of these choices is implementing a national school food program. Providing every child with healthy school meals would be a game-changer that would go a long way towards improving nutrition in this country.
It is long past time for us to put such a program in place. Canada remains the only G7 country without a national school food program or national standards. In 2019, the Liberals promised in their federal budget to work towards implementing a program, but after four years, they have still not delivered.
I call upon the government to keep its promise and finally allocate funding for a national school food program in the upcoming federal budget. It would make a profound difference in the lives of children, including many children in my own riding of Winnipeg Centre, whose learning is harmed because they are not getting the healthy food they need. I am a former educator, and in my classroom I had a toaster, bread and other food, which I bought with my teaching salary as a classroom management program because I knew the kids in my classroom could not learn or stay focused on an empty stomach.
Another choice is introducing a guaranteed livable basic income for all people in Canada. Yesterday, on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I joined Senator Kim Pate in support of her bill, Bill S-233, and my own bill, Bill C-223, the national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income act, at a press conference. In its study of Bill S-233, the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance heard overwhelming support from experts and advocates for the social, economic and health benefits that a guaranteed livable basic income would provide.
Providing a guaranteed livable basic income is an idea whose time has come because we know the pandemic revealed the deep cracks in our social safety net, and those cracks remain. In every corner of this country, the human rights of people living below the poverty line are violated on a daily basis. I have called poverty one of the most violent human rights violations, one that robs people of their dignity and their humanity. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, no one should be forced to sleep in tents, on the streets or in bus shelters. By providing everyone over the age of 17 who needs it with an unconditional cash transfer, a guaranteed livable basic income would lift millions of people out of poverty.
Poverty is expensive. In fact, poverty costs our country at least $80 billion a year. It costs our health care system, and one of the benefits of GLBI would be improving just that.
To conclude, I want to thank the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel for introducing the bill. I call on all members to support it, and I call on all members to support measures, including a national school food program and a guaranteed livable basic income, which would ensure no child in this country is ever hungry again.
1277 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I would like to try a little experiment with you, although I am not sure whether you prefer sweet or salty snacks. Let us assume the latter.
Imagine you are sitting in your living room, curled up beside your partner, and watching a movie. He hands you the chip bowl. He left the bag of chips on the table in the living room in case you finish the bowl he just prepared. He hands you the bowl, all smiles, and you take a chip, all smiles. He takes one too, and you look at each other tenderly as you snack on the delicious chips. Is your mouth watering? Do you want to go to the corner store and buy a bag of your favourite potato chips? You probably do.
That is an example of the effect of advertising, to make people want to buy something they do not really need, usually not at all, something they may not even really want. That being said, the image of the story I just told could very well still be in your mind, and you may suddenly feel a craving for potato chips and need them immediately.
We are adults and we are able to see reason. We know what advertising is and the purposes of advertising, but we still sometimes fall for it. The difference between us and children is that we are aware of the effects of advertising and we can think logically. Children have not yet acquired the ability to question themselves and to think logically about the subject of the ad. They only see the good things. They do no ask themselves whether what they are seeing is good for their health and they do not ask questions when they see an advertisement on the street, along the highway or in a big box store.
There is also advertising on television, video games, social media and the videos that children sometimes watch. There are a lot of advertisements directed at children and, despite the laws, advertisers find new ways to ensure that children see their ads every day. Advertisements are also often sources of misinformation by omission. Think about the advertisement for that famous cereal with its delicious spoonfuls of honey. It is a delight to eat and provides nine essential nutrients. It is incredible just how nutritious and delicious that cereal is. What the ad does not tell people, however, is that the amount of sugar in one bowl exceeds the daily recommended intake and that the bowl in the ad represents three servings for a child. The ad also fails to mention that the essential nutrients a person would get from eating a real complete breakfast are far greater than the nine essential nutrients the cereal provides. The ad capitalizes on the pleasure of eating sweet things.
Why is it important to legislate on advertising targeting children?
Let us start with what I mentioned. Children do not have the maturity or the necessary knowledge to have perspective when they see an ad and to question the truth of that ad. Then there is the fact that sugar can be addictive. Our brain releases dopamine when we eat sugar. It is pleasing. We become hooked on that dopamine over time to the point where we always want more. The ad does not tell us that.
It does not tell us that children who do not adopt healthy eating habits from a young age will live with many health problems as they grow up. The ad leads our children to make bad food choices that will have repercussions on their health their entire lives and, by extension, on the health care systems because of weight-related comorbidity, obesity and inactivity that are the result of bad food choices. These bad food choices cause children to have less energy because they are not well fed.
Of course the parents are partly to blame, but they may be tempted to indulge, offer a treat, make an exception. Far too often the exception becomes the rule and that is how sugar becomes associated with the idea of a treat or a pleasure, as though there is nothing else that could be a treat or a pleasure.
The consequences of consuming foods that are high in sugar, saturated fat and sodium are not felt immediately, rather, they manifest over the long term. That is why we use them as treats, because they do no harm at the time. However, when consumed repeatedly, then they become problematic.
In the short term, the various effects of consuming sugar are no less unpleasant and damaging than the long-term consequences. These short-term effects impact both children's bodies and their social lives. Sometimes, children's behaviours change. They may become less agreeable and consequently be ignored by others.
Other consequences include fatigue, irritability, impatience, trouble concentrating, dizziness, headache, feeling hungry. Even after having just eaten, children may still feel hungry because they did not get any nutrients. They can also experience arrhythmia in some cases, or temper tantrums. Children may have a tantrum because they are not getting what they want and they are going through sugar withdrawal. Some even get aggressive.
Where is this sugar? It is everywhere, from croquettes to popsicles. As soon as I say the words I see advertising images in my head. Sugar is everywhere, and some ads target young people so directly they become almost impossible to avoid. That is the problem.
I would also mention that these foods can cause obesity. The industry is deliberately targeting young people because they are less equipped to detect its strategies. At their age, they cannot make informed choices.
In 2019, the Government of Quebec created an action plan to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and encourage people to drink water instead. Things have reached a point where we have to promote water, when water is fundamental. Water is all we need and all we should have. However, we have ended up in a different place. The Government of Quebec makes the connection between sugary drinks and how they are marketed, and the resulting health problems.
The report states the following:
Given the findings of epidemiological studies on the health risks associated with the consumption of sugar or sugary drinks, as well as data on the consumption of sugary drinks in Quebec and their marketing, more efforts are needed to prevent the daily consumption of sugary drinks within the population, especially among certain groups (e.g. young people).
In the same report, the Government of Quebec says it wants to:
De-normalize the consumption of sugary drinks and marketing practices that promote their consumption....
Today I am talking about sugar, but it is one example of food advertising and marketing that should not be directed at young people. To direct advertising at children is nothing but crass profiteering; it is perverse. It targets people whose minds have not matured. It experiments on young human beings who have their whole lives ahead of them as if they were Pavlov's dogs.
Advertising directed at children under the age of 13 has been practically outlawed in Quebec for 40 years. Section 248 of the Consumer Protection Act already prohibits advertising directed at children. On the surface, therefore, the bill seems to offer no advantage for Quebec, which has already legislated on the matter. Quebec's legislation is among the toughest in North America. However, federal legislation is still important because some Canadian provinces lack the kind of protective legislation provided by Quebec.
In Quebec, certain players are using nostalgia for the past to try to convince people to put advertising to youth back on the agenda. They are saying that it is difficult to fund the great programs for youth as we did in the past. They claim they need youth-oriented advertising in order to invest in youth programming. We used to talk about greenwashing. In this case, it is “ad-washing”. I am not sure how to put it.
The Bloc Québécois will determine whether the proposed strategy is compatible with the strategies adopted in Quebec and with the Consumer Protection Act. We will propose amendments to ensure that the two acts are similar. I would remind the House that Quebec and the provinces have legislative jurisdiction over this area.
1397 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Madam Speaker, I support Bill C-252. I believe it is a continuation of what the government talks a great deal about, which is a healthy eating strategy overall. We need to recognize that excessive amounts of sodium, sugar and saturated fats lead to things such as obesity and diet-related chronic diseases.
What I like about the legislation before us is that the member focused the attention on advertising to children 13 and under, which I believe would have a profoundly positive outcome. I want to applaud the member for taking this initiative. I believe it will make a difference in terms of healthier eating habits for young people. As they grow older, we have a healthier society.
119 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
The time provided for the consideration of Private Members' Business has now expired and the order is dropped to the bottom of the order of precedence on the Order Paper.
30 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I have appreciated listening to the discussion and debate this morning. I want to thank my colleague and friend for bringing forward such important legislation.
A good percentage of us are provided the opportunity to introduce private members' legislation. My colleague has picked a substantive issue that impacts children from coast to coast to coast. I listened to the member speak to the legislation, and she emphasized that this bill is not about what food choices parents make. That is a very important part to emphasize.
I start off by saying that because, when I was listening to the Conservative Party's member talk about the legislation, they said, in essence, that the legislation is not good and they will not be supporting it. I assume that will be the position the Conservative Party might take on this as a whole. It is somewhat discouraging, and I will tell members why. When we think of sugar, salt and saturated fats, and the health consequences of the over-consumption of those products, one needs to realize that there is a substantive cost that goes beyond the health condition of the individual consuming the products.
I was a provincial MLA for just under 20 years. If we look at the greatest single expenditure that a province has, it is health care. Trying to marginalize, in any fashion, the impact that diets have on the health condition of our citizens is a disservice.
I thought it was interesting when the member opposite from the Conservative Party said that all children have to do is get out and play football, or get out of the house more. They said that the government needs to get less involved in issues such as this. The members have missed out on a wonderful opportunity. I would ask the member to review what he said and look at what the legislation would actually do.
This is substantive legislation. As the previous speaker from the New Democratic Party made reference to, we have to consider in the mentality of a child and the impact advertising has on them. The member from the Conservative Party is really out of tune.
In the areas I represent, it is not like someone can run outside to their front yard to play flag football in the traditional north end of Winnipeg. There are fields maybe down the block or around the corner, but there are all sorts of other things that factor into it. Some people have different opportunities than others do.
If we apply the very same principle that the government needs to be less involved to the issue of labelling, would the Conservative Party then reverse its course and its thinking on the importance of labelling to say the government should not be involved in it? I would argue that this is very much about consumer education. It is about the government providing assistance to consumers.
The member said that this is about advertising. For children under the age of 13, we would put in prohibitions to prevent excessive amounts of sugar, salt and saturated fats. We can look at the targeting that takes place in advertising today. It is significantly different than what it was 10 or 15 years ago. I will use Facebook as an example. I can target, through Facebook, genders and ages. I can break it down into communities where I want to advertise. We can take a look at what children are engaged in today on the Internet and social media and how much more they are susceptible to advertising and promotions of unhealthy food.
I agree with the parenting factor. I am not going to tell members across the way what they have to feed their children, but I believe that at the same time, there is an obligation on government to look at ways it can promote and encourage healthy eating habits. Where there is a window for some form of exploitation that could ultimately lead to problems in our collective health, I think there is a responsibility for government. We know there are other governments around the world doing this, and it has already been highlighted that the Province of Quebec has been dealing, at least in part, with what this legislation is talking about for the last number of decades.
I would emphasize that things have changed. We have seen, through that change, a great deal more obesity within our younger population. It is not just because of computer games or being in front of the Nintendo, Atari or whatever else one wants to call it. Yes, it would be wonderful to see more children out in our communities playing and participating in physical activities. There are things we can do to encourage and support that. As a government, we have done that by working with municipalities and working with the provinces. However, here, within Bill C-252, we have something very specific that will in fact make a difference.
Take a look at what our children are viewing and watching and how advertisers can focus in. It is not just putting one ad on a TV network or one ad that goes in a particular book. Today, we can focus in on individual children under the age of 13 in promoting a product that we know is unhealthy.
At the end of the day, it is not about saying to a parent, “No, you can't give your child this.” It is to ensure that a parent has more say, as opposed to child X seeing something on blog Y, because blog Y is about some game and is encouraging and promoting a particular product that is loaded with saturated fats, salt or sugar content.
All sorts of chronic health conditions are a direct result of the obesity taking place in our communities. This legislation would make a positive difference for our young people. I hope that members, in particular of the Conservative Party, understand and appreciate that they can contribute to healthier children by supporting this legislation.
1011 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Bill C-252, which has the laudable goal of prohibiting food and beverage marketing directed at children of materials that are unhealthy and damaging to their health. This legislation is long overdue.
By way of a background, Canada's New Democrats have been advocating for a ban on unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children for many years. In 2012, over 10 years ago, the NDP member of Parliament for New Westminster—Burnaby introduced legislation to expressly prohibit advertising and promotion for commercial purposes of products, food, drugs, cosmetics or devices directly to children under 13 years of age. One can tell already from that short list that the bill was more ambitious than the one we are discussing today, which deals only with unhealthy food and beverages, but it dealt and engaged with the very same concepts before the House today.
In 2016, as has already been heard in the House, Senator Nancy Greene Raine introduced the child health protection act. It was called Bill S-228, and that legislation would have banned the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages primarily directed at children under 17 years of age. A bit later I will touch on how this bill has reduced that age to 13, and of course, under 17 would have been more ambitious. As I will advocate in my remarks today, it would have been preferable.
Health Canada held an online consultation in 2017 to seek feedback on restricting the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children. That was over six years ago. That consultation was open to the public, health organizations, industry and any interested stakeholders.
At the House Standing Committee on Health at that time, the Liberals unfortunately amended Bill S-228 to reduce the age limit from under 17 years to under 13 years old. They also added a five-year legislative review, which is a prudent measure.
According to UNICEF Canada, the proposed age cut-off of 17 was more likely than a younger age threshold to protect the most vulnerable from the harmful impacts of marketing. While there are different interpretations of children's evolving cognitive capacities, research suggests very strongly that not only are teens exposed to more ads than younger children and remember them better, but also that they have more means. Teenagers who are 15 and 16 years of age often have more expendable or disposable income, act in a more unsupervised manner and are more likely to purchase unhealthy foods than children under 13, yet I think, due to pressure from the industry, that threshold was reduced to 13.
Although Bill S-228 did pass third reading in both the House and the Senate, unfortunately that bill died on the Order Paper due to a Conservative filibuster in the Senate prior to the 2019 federal election. That has left us where we are at today.
I would also comment that the Liberal government has made a number of commitments since it was elected in 2015 that remain unfulfilled on this issue. The former Liberal health minister, in her 2019 mandate letter, was directed to “introduce new restrictions on the commercial marketing of food and beverages to children”. That was never followed through with.
The current health minister's 2021 mandate letter instructed him to support “restrictions on the commercial marketing of food and beverages to children.” I suppose it can be said he is supporting that, in the sense that the government side is supporting this legislation, but we must remember there has been no action from the government. This is a private member's bill we are dealing with here, not a government bill.
What is the result of the inaction? It is not benign. Each year, the Canadian food and beverage industry spends over $1.1 billion on marketing to children. This marketing appeals to children through product design, the use of cartoon or other characters, as well as fantasy and adventure themes, humour and other marketing techniques. Clearly these techniques work, with there being children as young as three years old who are brand aware and can recognize or name food and beverage brands.
This marketing to children means that over 50 million food and beverage ads per year are shown on children's top 10 websites alone. Their personal identifying information is collected from websites and apps for the purposes of further targeting online marketing. Children in Canada are observing an estimated 1,500 advertisements annually, just on social media sites alone, and nearly 90% of food and beverages marketed on television and online are high in salt, sugars and saturated fat. That is what we as policy-makers are faced with in the current situation.
Let us look at the facts. Poor nutrition and unhealthy food and beverage are key contributors to poor health in children. Good eating habits and avoidance of unhealthy food are key preventative elements of health policy. There is strong agreement among leading Canadian pediatric and allied health organizations that the impact of food and beverage marketing is real, significant and harmful to children's development.
Marketing to children has changed dramatically in the last 10 to 15 years. Today it is a seamless, sophisticated and often interactive process. The line between ads and children's entertainment has blurred with marketing messages being inserted into places that children play and learn. Marketing of food and beverages to children in Canada is largely self-regulated by the same industries that profit from the practice. Research reveals that these voluntary measures are not working. Numerous studies have found strong associations between increases in advertising of non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity. One study by Yale University found that children exposed to junk food advertising ate 45% more junk food than children not exposed to such advertisements. In Canada, as much as 90% of the food marketed to children and youth on TV and online is unhealthy.
Three-quarters of children are exposed to food marketing while using their favourite social media applications. Again, the majority of those ads is for unhealthy foods that are ultraprocessed and beverages that are high in saturated fats, salt and sugar. This does not just affect children. Canadians are the second-largest buyers of ultraprocessed foods and drinks in the world, second only to the Americans. The result is that nearly one in three Canadian children is overweight or obese. The rise in childhood obesity in recent decades is linked to changes in our eating habits. Overweight children are more likely to develop health problems later in life, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
Children are uniquely vulnerable to marketing manipulation until the point that they achieve two specific information-processing skills. The first is the ability to perceive the difference between commercial and non-commercial content, and the second is the ability to understand the persuasive intent behind advertising. Before the age of five, most children cannot distinguish ads from unbiased programming. Children under eight do not understand the intent of marketing messages, and they believe what they see. By age 10 to 12, children do understand that ads are designed to sell products, but they are not always able to be critical of these ads.
Canada needs to get in step with other countries in the world. Other jurisdictions have since adopted similar legislation, including Norway, the United Kingdom and Ireland. By the way, my Conservative colleague was questioned about Quebec earlier and the impact of their legislation, which has restrictions on advertising to children.
Here are the facts: Quebec's restrictions on advertising to children have been shown to have a positive impact on nutrition by reducing fast food consumption by 13%. That translates to 17 million fewer fast food meals sold in the province and an estimated 13.4 million fewer fast food calories consumed per year. Quebec has the lowest rates of obesity among five- to 17-year-olds in the country, as well as the highest rates of vegetable and fruit consumption in Canada. That is relative to every other province. Now, it is true that childhood obesity rate are rising everywhere, but I think the effect of this marketing is quite clear, which is that it has slowed the rising obesity and unhealthy consumption of food marketing in Quebec, partially at least because of their early and, I think, progressive adoption of legislation before the House now.
I would also point out that Quebec has prohibited all commercial advertising targeting children under the age of 13 since 1980, so it is very clear that it is the time for the rest of the country to get in step with this. I think most of us in here are parents, have siblings who are parents, or maybe intend to be parents at some point. Certainly, we were all once children. It should be non-controversial to say that marketing of unhealthy products to our children in this country should be something that we are vigilant on and that we should act to prohibit. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation before the House today.
1541 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to acknowledge the initiative of the member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, who tabled Bill C-252. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Food and Drugs Act to prohibit food and beverage marketing directed at persons under the age of 13.
Young people have a very difficult relationship with images. I am the mother of two young adults, so I talk to teens a lot. I can see that their relationship with images is difficult, because youth are exposed to a lot of images. On apps like Instagram, TikTok and BeReal, our youth are constantly exposed to marketing images or influencers showing them what kind of looks are acceptable in our societies.
That is the main source of anxiety for many youth, because they are comparing themselves to filtered and altered images. They are seeing people use unhealthy weight loss methods. Youth are comparing themselves to something that cannot be real. These apps, which our youth use extensively, also contain marketing aimed at them. There are ads for unhealthy foods that are portrayed as very healthy. Youth are being manipulated through social media, which is at their fingertips all day.
It is time for the House of Commons to take action to regulate the big industry groups that are unfortunately more interested in their profits than in the public health of youth, who are our future. We were all young once. We all know what it feels like to want to be cool. We still want that today. We have all wanted to copy everyone else. That is normal, and that is not what I want to question today. The issue is how big food companies that manufacture junk food use marketing. They know which buttons to press to make young people feel guilty about not having tried the latest sugary cereal. It may taste good, but it is not healthy.
Just because there is a cute little rabbit in a field on the box does not mean that the product is healthy or that it is part of a healthy diet. If we can prohibit that kind of advertising from being directed at youth under the age of 13, we could save an entire generation from marketing. Let me give some figures.
Obesity is a well-documented problem. Unfortunately, it is a problem that is on the rise in Quebec and around the world. According to a 2016 report from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the INSPQ, 52% of Quebeckers are overweight, meaning they have a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 or slightly more.
Fully 18% of those people are obese, which corresponds to a BMI of 30 or more. That is a lot. According to the INSPQ’s most optimistic projections, those numbers could rise even more to 54% and 21%, respectively, by 2030. That is very worrisome. The increase in overweight and obesity among children has not stopped. It has been ongoing for the last few decades.
Between 1978 and 2004, the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity among children between the ages of 2 and 17 rose from 15% to 26%. That is almost double. This increase was particularly marked among youth aged 12 to 17, with overweight and obesity again doubling for this age group, from 14% to 29%. It was precisely at this time that there was a significant explosion of processed foods on grocery store shelves.
It was the time of convenience. It was the era of frozen pizzas, Jell-O boxes and tasty fish sticks.
I know many families for whom, in the 1980s and 1990s, frozen, overly processed foods with too much fat and too much salt were a magic solution. Indeed, they were easy meals. I do not blame the families, quite the opposite. I have two daughters and at 5:30 I used to run to go pick up my kids from school. Supper was not ready. Those evenings, my partner was working late at night, homework had to be done, and we hoped the kids were in bed by 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. The solution was a frozen meal. It was easy for me and it was what we had those evenings.
As I said, we must take action for our young people, as we did with tobacco products. However, I am not burying my head in the sand. I know that this is not a problem that can be entirely resolved, but we certainly can help. We can do better, but we have to start.
Young people spend a lot of time on screens. As parents, we have to control what they see, especially during childhood. It is not easy to control, but we have to plug the holes in the law. I am sure members know where I am going with this, because earlier I was explaining how proud we are that legislation has been passed in Quebec. The jurisdictions of Quebec and the provinces must be respected. I would remind members that it is Quebec that has full control over health care within its territory, delivers services and promotes healthy lifestyles. While the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C‑252, I want to point out that that it did not help develop the federal, provincial and territorial framework for action to promote healthy weights and that it does not support a pan-Canadian strategy in this area. Quebec intends to remain solely responsible for developing and implementing programs to promote healthy living within its territory, while obviously continuing to exchange information and expertise with the Government of Canada.
The Bloc Québécois is going to examine whether the proposed strategy fits in with the approach Quebec has decided to take, with laws like its Consumer Protection Act. It will be important to ensure that Bill C-252 does not encroach on jurisdictions. This is a sine qua non because, as I seem to find myself saying quite often these days, respect must be maintained. Jurisdictions must be protected. Of course, it is important to safeguard the health of young people and do what we can to quickly bring down childhood obesity rates and tackle diabetes, which is a silent but ever-present evil.
I would like to stress that health and well-being are critically important to me. I am an athletic person, in winter and summer alike. I have done triathlons, I ski and I have participated in figure skating, even competitively. I still pursue these activities. I still swim, surf and stay active. It is important to encourage our young people to adopt these healthy lifestyles. This goes hand in hand with nutrition.
Parents have full discretion over how they raise their children, but they also need tools to help them. It is very important to be aware of these issues, as we in the Bloc Québécois are.
We will therefore be voting for Bill C‑252, because children have the right to not be treated like merchandise and have the right to a childhood without little tigers, bunnies or any other characters trying to influence them at every corner. These are very appealing characters that are solely used to sell sugar.
1229 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today to speak to Bill C-252. I will not be supporting it, for various reasons, and I am going to walk through those reasons now. A lot of people in this place are parents, and I am a parent of three young children. Jameson is six. Clare is turning eight in July, and my son Nickson is 10, and we do talk a lot about nutrition in our family. I think a very important role of a parent is to begin healthy eating habits early in life.
With respect to kids being marketed to and Health Canada wanting to pull back some marketing, it seems like Health Canada always wants to bring in more and more bans. I remember that last year we were fighting Health Canada when it was trying to make amendments to front-of-package labelling to label whole beef and whole pork as unhealthy. It did that labelling for before the whole beef or whole pork was actually cooked. Once it is cooked, it loses a lot of its trans fats; the oil drips off, and then we actually have a healthier meal. That is another example of the banning that the government, seemingly continuously, wants to do, taking more and more control over the lives of Canadians. They are just expected to listen to exactly what the government says, and I think that is a dangerous road to go down.
One thing the government was doing was talking about marketing. It struck me as funny that, as I was driving down a road in Ottawa, I saw a candy store frontage, but it was not actually a candy store; it was a cannabis store. When we talk about taking on some marketing and some advertising, maybe we should start with not allowing certain companies to actually make cannabis look like candy. It would be a really good start in this country to actually tackle some of that marketing.
When we were looking at other aspects of Bill C-252, my colleague from Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies came over and talked about why we were trying to fight against the bill in its previous iteration with Senator Greene Raine. The unintended consequence of the bill is that it would take away opportunities for sponsorship in youth sports. Timbits hockey actually sponsors 300,000 kids to play sports in Canada. When we want to have these opportunities for kids who cannot play, because sometimes sports are becoming expensive, we need sponsorship like this. Why would we take a bill that would bring forward government regulations to, and I disagree with my colleague opposite, tell parents what to feed their kids, what is healthy and what is not?
Do members know how much access we are able to have to information on ingredients in the grocery store? My wife takes our kids grocery shopping all the time, and she actually shows them the ingredients that are in the stuff they want her to buy. They look at the first ingredient, and it is sugar. She says, “Why would we buy this? It is full of sugar and it is not going to make us healthy or give us energy.” That is what parents should do; they should create healthy eating habits. The member who spoke previously, the sponsor of the bill, did say that we have to have a multi-faceted approach to kids when it comes to treating obesity and bringing obesity rates down. That approach does involve physical activity.
We have been talking about all the marketing kids are seeing, but my kids do not see a lot of marketing. They are on an iPad or a cell phone one hour a week; on Saturdays they get to play a game. The rest of the time, we go outside and play. We are very active. This weekend I was at home, and I watched six flag football games because our kids were outside. When they were not playing flag football in the league, they were practising with other kids in the park. That fights obesity. Something we should be more focused on is getting our kids outside and playing, and that is something my wife and I have, as parents, taken to heart.
Also, parents should show a healthy lifestyle to their kids. We should be role models for our kids. We do not need the government to tell us how to feed our kids and what they should and should not be doing. Parents need to be better role models across this country for their children, and I think that is something we really need to focus on. I see it time and time again when intermingling with some other parents, where the first thing their kid does is to grab their iPhone from their pocket and sit with it for an hour. We need to be more involved. That is not government's job; that is our job as parents, and it is our job as to what we should be teaching our children. This is why, when legislation like this is brought forward, I am actually quite disappointed.
This legislation is not new; it has been done in Quebec. For 40 years, this legislation has been in place in Quebec. I asked the member very directly how much the obesity rates have gone down in Quebec with this legislation. Members probably noticed that she would not give a number. She would not answer, because government legislation does not have that much of an affect on what kids are going to eat; parents do, and that is what we should be focusing on.
The member talked about $10 million in the 2023 budget for keeping kids active. When that is spread across the country, it is not a lot of money to keep Canadian youth active. However, legislation such as this has actually been done in Canada and proven not to be as helpful as some members like to say. This seems to me to be the definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over again and expecting different outcomes. I see that a lot with the government.
The government talks about marketing to children and trying to make sure that children are not affected by it, because they might respond negatively. However, we also have to teach our kids that they are going to see things in their lives, but they have to learn and be able to look at it, say that it is not for them and move on. We should actually teach our children to see marketing, look at the package on the label when grocery shopping and make the decision not to eat it and put it in their body. The government does not have to do that for parents and kids.
There are a lot of roles where I know there is not a big difference between the Liberals and the NDP members, who think that government can do nothing wrong. Over here, we think government should be less and less involved in the everyday lives of Canadians; this legislation is a perfect example of that. I do not want the government to look after me or my children from cradle to grave. I want us to be able to make our own decisions.
Kids might make mistakes. We work hard, but we are not perfect. Our kids do get the odd stomach ache from eating too much candy or too many chips, but the kids actually learn a lesson from that as well. They realize that they cannot put all this artificial food in their system, because it actually makes them feel unwell; that is a learning experience.
However, to say that the government can control what kids are going to see and control marketing is an issue. In an earlier part of my speech, I brought forward a very valid point, which is that if we want to talk about marketing to children, we need to talk about the fact that people are trying to market cannabis to children and call it a “candy shop”. We should look at tackling some of those issues, which are actually dangerous to kids, and let the parents tackle issues of healthy dietary habits, healthy habits when it comes to staying active and making sure that we are more involved in our kids' lives, day in and day out.
The government is not going to solve those problems; the government of the day definitely will not solve many problems. However, as an engaged parent and a member of society who actually wants to help out and make sure that kids are making healthier choices, I think we have to have more education system involvement when kids have phys. ed. class. Kids can quite often opt out of phys. ed. class. We have to stay active, and we have to stay motivated to make sure that we are making healthy lifestyle choices; that can be a part of it.
My Liberal colleagues have said that we need a multi-faceted approach, but maybe they can take all the effort that has been put into the bill before us into keeping kids more active. In that way, when they get older and have to make choices by themselves, they are going to stay active. They will have a healthy lifestyle, and they will have a healthier diet. This is how we are trying to train our kids so that they can make their own choices. They can read what is on the label and decide that if the first ingredients are sugar and carbonated water, it is not going to be healthy for them. However, we need to train the next generation to actually make decisions on their own, because the government cannot make every decision for them.
1654 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. In fact, the bill contains a provision that would mandate Health Canada to monitor impacts of this bill on the marketing of foods and beverages to teenagers aged between 13 and 18. This would be done specifically in an effort to ensure that food companies and advertisers would not simply, as I mentioned, turn around and ramp up their marketing to teenagers to compensate for these new limits. Therefore, the bill would give this opportunity to verify, once Bill C-252 becomes law, and to see the impacts of this legislation.
98 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague for this bill, which we will be supporting.
My question concerns the age. My colleague referred to Senator Greene Raine's bill from 2016, which would have prohibited marketing to children under 17 years of age. At that time, the Liberals, her colleagues, at the health committee amended that bill to reduce the target age from 17 to 13. According to UNICEF, the proposed cut-off of 17 was more likely than a younger age threshold to protect the most vulnerable from the harmful impacts of marketing. We know that teens are exposed to more ads than younger children and that they remember them better.
Is my colleague interested in watching to see if the food manufacturers target more ads at 14-year-olds to 17-year-olds, and does she agree with the NDP that we have to be very vigilant to protect those children as well from this kind of marketing?
163 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, my colleague has an excellent question. If such a law had been adopted a few years back, when Senator Greene Raine brought it before the Senate, we probably would have decreased the number of deaths that I have reported since then. More important, we know this is putting a strain on our health care system and is costing, in Canada, $13.8 billion a year. Therefore, it is monetary, in ensuring that our health system does not get negatively impacted. Of course, an impact is also that our kids would have a better and healthier jump-start to their lives.
102 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I have been listening intently, and this is a conversation that constituents in the riding of Waterloo often have. Negotiating with a three-year-old child, a five-year-old child or even an older one is sometimes very difficult when it comes to marketing.
The member spoke about raising her children, so I would like to hear from her about what would have changed if legislation like this had existed while the member was raising her children and what the impacts would be for kids and families today, including those in Waterloo.
95 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
