Question Period Note: RESTRICTING ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN (HEALTHY EATING STRATEGY)

Food advertising to children is recognized as a major contributor to childhood obesity globally and in Canada. Health authorities and experts have called for comprehensive restrictions to reduce children’s exposure to, and the power of, food advertising. Since 2016, Health Canada has engaged extensively with stakeholders on policy options. A draft guide detailing a comprehensive, evidence-based proposal was distributed for stakeholder feedback in December 2018 and January 2019. Policy development is ongoing.

• What steps is the Government taking, including engaging with stakeholders, to restrict advertising of certain food and beverages to children?

• Obesity is harming an increasing number of children. One in three Canadian children is overweight or obese.

• Advertising of foods has been identified as a major contributor to childhood obesity globally and in Canada.

• Over the past three years, we have made significant progress on the development of an evidence-based approach to restricting the advertising of food to children.

• The Government supported the Child Health Protection Act that did not pass in the previous parliament. We will continue to engage transparently with Canadians, stakeholders and experts as we examine options for protecting the health of our children.

Restricting Advertising to Children of Foods that Meet Certain Nutrient Criteria (M2K)
Children are uniquely vulnerable to the power and influence of advertising. There has been growing concern over the past ten years about the negative impact the advertising of foods, particularly those with excessive sodium, sugar, and/or saturated fat, has on children’s nutritional health.

Canada’s childhood obesity rate has nearly tripled since 1980. 1 in 3 Canadian children are now overweight or obese; placing Canada’s childhood obesity rate above the average for the EU, OECD and G20. Obesity increases the risk of developing chronic diseases and some cancers, some of which are beginning to appear in children.

Health authorities and experts, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have identified the advertising of such foods to children as a major contributor to childhood obesity. They have called on countries to take comprehensive action, including regulating advertising to children, to halt and reverse the increase in childhood obesity and appearance of risk factors for chronic diseases at younger ages.

Placing restrictions on the advertising of foods with excess nutrients of concern to children was identified as a mandate priority in 2015 and 2017 and reaffirmed in Budget 2019. It is also a deliverable of Health Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy (HES), launched in 2016.

During the previous mandate, Health Canada advanced work on regulations under Private Member’s Bill S-228 (the Child Health Protection Act), which proposed legislative amendments to prohibit the advertising of food to children under 13 years of age. As part of its policy development, Health Canada conducted research and consulted with health and academic experts to establish criteria for identifying foods that should be subject to advertising restrictions as well as the advertising media, tactics and techniques to restrict. Health Canada has engaged extensively on this file since 2016, including over 50 bilateral and group engagements, a public consultation in summer 2017, and stakeholder sessions in November and December 2018. A record of these meetings and correspondences are available on Health Canada’s “meetings and correspondence on healthy eating” webpage.

Bill S-228 did not receive Royal Assent prior to the dissolution of the previous government.

Any proposal put forward to restrict child-directed advertising will be based on scientific evidence, expert advice and transparent engagement with Canadians, experts, and stakeholders.

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