Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on Bill C-252, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (prohibition of food and beverage marketing directed at children), also known as the child health protection act, as its official critic. I would like to thank Senator Dasko for sponsoring this bill in the Senate and my colleagues Senator Petitclerc, Senator Moodie and Senator Gold for also speaking on it. I would also be remiss to not underline the work done in the past to limit advertising to children by MP James McGrath, MP Peter Julian and former senator Nancy Greene Raine.

Bill C-252, or the child health protection act, aims to restrict advertising of foods and beverages with more than prescribed levels of sugars, saturated fat or sodium to children under the age of 13. The previous version of this bill also aimed to protect teenagers from food and beverage advertising. Bill C-252 instead includes a parliamentary review within five years to examine if there has been an increase in advertising to Canadians between the ages of 13 and 16.

This bill comes at a time of great scarcity in terms of both time and money with the current cost of living. It could be a way of alleviating the mental load of parents and caregivers in terms of meal planning and grocery shopping. By this, I mean that food is meant to sustain our bodies, but the bulk of food and beverage advertising targeting children offers products with very little nutritional value and instead aims to make a profit.

Since children are not cognitively equipped to identify advertisements, it means that they can then apply pressure on their parents to purchase what they see on television or social media. Children can be very persuasive. It can also make it more difficult to teach them about healthy eating habits in the long run.

As Senators Dasko, Petitclerc and Gold have eloquently illustrated, Canadian children’s health is at stake. Our diets are now sadly dominated by ultra-processed foods, which are high in salt, sugars and saturated fats, and children aged as young as 2 and up to 18 now get over half of their calories from these ultra‑processed foods. This is not surprising in the least, as the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology heard during their 2016 study on increasing obesity in Canada that the number of obese Canadian children had tripled since 1980.

Overweight and obese children are not only at an increased risk of premature onset of chronic conditions and diseases, but are also prone to greater degrees of bullying and at a higher risk of depression. This is not just about our children’s bodies, but also their all around well-being. Overweight children exhibit higher levels of anxiety and lower body esteem in adolescence.

It can be particularly difficult to limit a child’s exposure to marketing, as it has reached new heights with the wealth of personal data which is now available, thanks in part to social media. Marketers can now reach out to much more specific audiences with convincing messages crafted by teams of professionals and tested on focus groups. Hence, it comes as no surprise that a 2021 UNICEF report found that food marketing threatens children’s rights, namely by exposing them to unhealthy food environments composed of highly processed, unhealthy foods that are more available and convenient.

By allowing such pervasive marketing and visibility of foods and beverages that can have important health consequences — such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers — we are setting children up to fail. Yet each year, $1.1 billion is spent on marketing foods and beverages to kids in Canada. Over 90% of the food and beverage ads viewed by children online and on television feature products with high amounts of sugar, saturated fat or sodium. The worst part is that marketing to children works, as it builds brand loyalty and impacts the foods that they eat.

Many countries, such as the United States and Australia, continue to rely on industry-led self-regulation of food advertising to children. In Canada, industry introduced the Children’s Advertising Initiative, or CAI, in 2007, which is a voluntary initiative restricting advertising of certain foods to children. However, Canadian research has demonstrated that it leaves children significantly exposed to food advertising.

The European Consumer Organisation published a report in 2021 on how self-regulation fails to prevent unhealthy foods from being marketed to children. For example, out of the 81 complaints submitted, only 14 were successful. After finding no positive outcomes from existing self-regulatory industry codes, the United Kingdom and Spain are in the process of developing their own regulations. In Canada, the province of Quebec has had legislation under the Consumer Protection Act since 1980, which prohibits advertising directed at children under the age of 13. I would like to note that this legislation was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada under section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Honourable colleagues, I believe the fact that Quebec’s legislation was upheld by our highest court under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is telling. Bill C-252 is not about industry’s rights and privileges; it is about young Canadians’ right to a healthy childhood. Children do not have the capacity to think about a balanced diet, and if all they see on television and online are ads for sugary snacks, they may not even know other options exist. To make matters worse, algorithms online contribute to the creation of echo chambers and targeted advertising.

However, the Quebec model is far from perfect. Professor Potvin Kent, during her testimony before the Social Affairs Committee, revealed that her research suggests children in Quebec continue to be exposed to food and beverage advertisements without being the targeted public. She referred to McDonald’s ads that will advertise another snack or meal meant for adults instead of advertising a Happy Meal. In the end, children in Quebec and Ontario continue to be exposed to equal amounts of excessively sugary and salty foods.

Recently, another loophole in Quebec’s children’s advertising legislation was found in its inability to address internal advertising in video games, and more specifically the soccer simulation video game FIFA.

Researchers found that FIFA games promote “microtransactions” within the games through loot boxes that are often brightly coloured and can provide advantages through a lottery system which is comparable to gambling. The EU and the U.K. have been paving the way with regulatory language to curb the impacts of these loot boxes.

One of the current difficulties in properly assessing the situation is that current self-regulation practices lack transparency, especially regarding the number of advertisements currently targeting children.

According to Professor Potvin Kent from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, “ . . . the self-regulation of food and beverage marketing in Canada has been a complete failure . . . . ” as stated during the 2017 committee study of Bill S-228. For example, Professor Potvin Kent studied marketing targeting children before and after the implementation of the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, or CAI.

Results show that food and beverage marketing increased by 17% in Toronto, 6% in Vancouver, and children and teenagers were targeted about 92% more. Simply put, advertisements by participating companies in the CAI have not changed.

To be clear, Bill C-252 is no panacea. Professor Potvin Kent has done a number of studies focusing on marketing targeting children before and after the implementation of the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Some of her results show that even under the Quebec model children continue to be exposed to food and beverage advertising. They simply are no longer the target audience.

This is not to say that the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards does not have merit. I believe this is a pertinent initiative from the industry that demonstrates a willingness to collaborate. The Code for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children came into effect on June 28, 2023, and prohibits advertising food and drinks to children under the age of 13 unless certain nutritional thresholds are met. This targets all advertisements that feature a food or beverage product, is primarily directed at children and appears in any media.

However, the code’s greatest flaws are that participation is voluntary and compliance is on a complaint-driven basis. This not only puts the responsibility on the consumer to act as a watchdog, but also sidesteps any form of true accountability. To make matters worse, the code and guide state that non‑compliance “may” be publicly reported.

This said, Bill C-252 certainly has its strengths. It will act as a good starting point to help Canadian children have the best start in life with, hopefully, a more balanced diet.

I must add that children’s health does not depend solely on their exposure to marketing, but Bill C-252 may contribute to reducing marketing content and increasing educational content.

It is also consistent with the establishment of a high and consistent standard of living for children and youth across Canada as stated in Bill S-282, national strategy for children and youth act.

It is important to note that children’s health is a complex issue that stems from many variables such as poverty, education, lifestyle and access to health care.

I also have a few concerns. The greatest one is related to Health Canada’s view of this bill as a framework with regulations to come. It lacks clarity in its application, and we’ve seen with some bills, such as Bill C-41, that this can lead to delays and unfulfilled promises. I particularly worry about the timeliness of its policy update implementation.

I also believe that the parliamentary review on the potential increase in advertising to children may come too late. We need a long-term and rigorous approach as well as reliable and available data. One concern is that advertisers may simply target teenagers to make up for their lost market.

Including industry in the process could also be worthwhile, if only to strengthen communication, transparency and expectations.

A 2023 report by the Heart and Stroke Foundation combines results from three recent studies on the prevalence of point-of-sale marketing to children, or M2K, in stores and restaurants. Results show that 53% of stores had junk food power walls at checkout. I am aware this is outside of the scope of this bill as Bill C-252 focuses on television and digital media, but I believe it is something to keep in mind.

Up to 70% of consumer purchasing decisions are made in retail venues at the shelf. Hence, placement strategies are key marketing features within stores, and checkout aisles are considered key marketing areas to children in supermarkets.

In New Zealand, a study using wearable cameras to study children’s everyday exposure to in-store marketing found that it was so high that it was deemed too extensive to code.

In Canada, a report by the Heart and Stroke Foundation suggests that policies restricting marketing to children should include point of sale, which echoes Health Canada’s 2016 healthy eating strategy in which grocery stores and convenience stores were identified as being important settings to examine. We could gain from clear and consistent healthy checkout aisle policies, which are associated with an immediate and significant reduction in purchases of sugary and salty snacks — an effect sustained over time.

Finally, considering the difficulties we face every time we try to legislate anything online, I believe we need a clear approach to monitoring social media advertisements, particularly in terms of influencers. Children’s screen time increased during the height of the pandemic, which also meant a greater exposure to food advertising; of Canadian children between the ages of 7 and 11, 26% now own their own cellphone.

It is estimated that children see five food ads per day on television and four on social media. It is estimated that teens are exposed to about 27 food ads per day on social media. We must keep in mind that the media landscape has greatly changed, and this is part of a much bigger issue of unregulated online spaces.

In order to truly fulfill its aim, Bill C-252 may require an advisory board. Rather than rely on sporadic public consultations, it could be beneficial to have a team of experts, as well as those with first-hand experience of targeted advertisements, comment on the implementation of this bill and its evolution.

In closing, Bill C-252 is far from perfect, but I applaud this attempt to better Canadian children’s health. One thing I believe we must keep in mind is that when we discuss children’s health and access to nutritious food, the onus should be on the advertisers and companies rather than the consumers.

I look forward to seeing this bill discussed in committee. Thank you.