Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I also want to thank all the witnesses for coming and appearing before this committee today. I apologize; I was tied up in the House and I didn't get to see your presentations, but I've reviewed some of your literature and listened to some of the questions with interest.
We're addressing a critical issue, one that's very deserving of the committee's time, and when the results of this study come out, I'm hoping it isn't another study that just sits on the shelf, but really will be taken to heart and result in some actions being taken by Canadians.
I have just a few comments to make, and then I'm going to leave you with three different questions. I have five minutes--right, Mr. Chair?--and they're rapidly disappearing; I can tell by that look.
Mr. Dykstra, my colleague, commented, and I couldn't believe I heard him correctly. He said he's been sitting around at home on weekends and just started to flip through the labels on the food. The number of Canadians who read the labels and the labelling system that we currently have on food would, I think, be just a very small percentage. I never read the labelling. I don't know what that stuff means. I have no clue.
After one of these meetings we had with witnesses, we talked about it afterwards. I mean this with sincerity. One of the witnesses said to me that it's almost like we need to have a nutrition for dummies book. We'll approach those people who do those books. They have “Taxation for Dummies”, etc.; we need “Nutrition for Dummies”. I'd be the first lining up to buy that book. We need greater education in terms of meal preparation.
I'm hearing that Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating may be eight pages long, and if that's the case, it would be a crying shame. It should be simple messages--maybe a page, laminated, double-sided, with simple labelling and maybe some examples. If you wanted further examples, those would be available, but the basic messages should able to be delivered in a laminated double-sided card. I think this is about education, and if I'm this ignorant about these subjects, I guarantee you there are a lot of Canadians out there who are equally uneducated. I think the labelling tool we currently have is almost useless.
We were talking about you while you were gone, Mr. Dykstra, about how you just decided to curl up on the couch and watch football and look at some labels on some food. You're definitely in the minority, sir; that probably puts you among the top students of the colleagues.
I have three questions now. I'm going to open this up to whoever wants to comment, but specifically to Ms. Gillis, what do you see as the greatest challenge in encouraging healthy eating among children? Second, to all of you, if you haven't got these thoughts on the record, what can the federal government do to help Canadians achieve and maintain a healthy weight? What's the single thing, or what are a couple of different things, we can do in the role as a federal government?
My last point is about schools that have snack programs. Are there guidelines provided to schools that have these programs, to ensure that healthy snacks are delivered to our students?
There's a question for Ms. Gillis and a question for all of you. Thanks.