Alcoholic Beverage Promotion Prohibition Bill

Moved second reading of Bill S-203, An Act to prohibit the promotion of alcoholic beverages.

He said: Honourable senators, my remarks on this bill will be even briefer. I would refer you to the speech I delivered on December 5, 2024, at second reading of Bill S-290, which is the Bill S-203 before us now.

Simply put, the purpose of this bill is to prohibit the promotion of alcoholic beverages in Canada, much like we do for tobacco and cannabis products. This is a very simple bill. Bill S-202 would cause warning labels about cancer to be placed on alcoholic beverages. Bill S-203 would prohibit the promotion of alcoholic beverages. Why prohibit it? That ties into the question I got earlier. Bill S-202 is laser-focused on the causal link between alcohol consumption and cancer. However, we haven’t talked about all of the other alcohol-related harms, both direct and indirect, such as death, accidents, injuries, impaired driving, calls to emergency response services and hospital and waiting room visits. We haven’t talked about depression, addiction, suicide, intimate partner violence and other physical and mental health problems. We haven’t connected all of those things to alcohol.

Canada’s trade deficit when it comes to alcohol amounts to $6 billion. When we talk about the promotion of alcoholic beverages, it’s often in terms of provincial sales. However, someone is paying for the negative effects of alcohol use, and that’s the reason for the $6-billion deficit. It leads to higher health costs, legal costs and social costs for taxpayers, whether they drink or not, than the profits generated by alcohol sales in Canada. Knowing this, knowing about the $6 billion deficit involved, and knowing that alcohol is responsible for seven known types of fatal cancers, why do we keep promoting it? The question applies in the context of Bill S-202: Why are Canadian alcohol manufacturers getting a free pass?

We are here precisely to make sure that companies like these don’t get a free pass. That’s our job. I’m submitting Bill S-203 to you for study in committee because the time has come to accept alcohol for what it is: a poison. Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Martin, debate adjourned.)