Health Committee on Dec. 6th, 2007

[Steven Fletcher, Conservative, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB]

I know. I was just reflecting on some of the questions earlier.

I'd like to ask the panel, or give them one last opportunity....

The federal government actually is doing many innovative things to enhance fitness, including ParticipACTION—we haven't really talked about ParticipACTION today—and the tax credit, of course, as well as just massive investments in infrastructure in general.

I wonder if perhaps the people in Finance or INAC would like to expand a little bit on some of the other things that have not been mentioned yet today.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lui Temelkovski]

Maybe, Mr. Tilson, you could throw your question out and have them answer, because we're....

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

We're out of time.

My question is to Ms. Nagel. This topic was discussed just recently; that is, the advertising beyond broadcast advertising. You've made it quite clear that this is beyond your jurisdiction.

Why I'm directing the question to you as the president and chief executive officer of Advertising Standards Canada is for what suggestions you have to talk about the broader advertising, whether you get into stores or into the Internet—and I acknowledge you don't have any jurisdiction for this, but you must have put your thoughts to that—and whether you have any recommendations to the committee, and in turn the government, to regulate that type of advertising.

[Linda Nagel]

It's so easy to focus on broadcast advertising, but in fact there are additional regulations and self-regulatory codes in place.

Of course, all food advertising directed at Canadians or provided by Canadians, whether it be in print, out of home, or whether it be on the Internet on Canadian sites is governed by all the Canadian laws and regulations that affect that category. The Food and Drugs Act, the Competition Act, and many, many other pieces of regulation and legislation apply. So all food advertising, even if it's not regulated by the CRTC, certainly has to comply with the Food and Drugs Act and regulations.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I understand that, but obviously, whatever we're doing isn't working. So that's what I'm asking, for recommendations that you think we should take.

[Linda Nagel]

One thing the industry has also added is another code, called the Canadian code of advertising standards. That code sets criteria for acceptable advertising across all media—that's Canadian advertising—and we have a broad system where we accept complaints from consumers about advertising that they deem to be in violation of standards. We have added standards, relative to food, with specific reference to advertising to children.

So those have been put in place this year, and we'll be looking to see and certainly inviting consumers to express their concerns about any advertising that they think violates standards.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

If you have any recommendations to the committee, please provide them to us in writing. We would all appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lui Temelkovski]

Thank you very much, Mr. Tilson.

[Andrew Lieff]

I was wondering if I could answer very briefly the question Mr. Fletcher raised.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lui Temelkovski]

Briefly.

[Andrew Lieff]

I think this committee would be very interested in what the government is doing under the international polar year program. It is sponsoring a number of very important studies, including a number of studies in the Arctic on Inuit health. I'll give you an example of one in particular. It's the Inuit health study being led by Dr. Egeland. It's the largest Inuit health study ever conducted. It's being done aboard the Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker Amundsen. There are other related research initiatives, but you spoke about arriving at baselines. This is going to be a kind of seminal study on being able to provide baseline information.

One component of it will be to look at children aged three to five, as far as their nutritional health, dietary habits, healthy growth and bones, vision, medical history, and that kind of thing. We hope that will contribute significantly to the body of knowledge we have and help inform us about the effectiveness of potential future interventions. The committee may want to follow up on how that fits into this context.

Thank you for your attention.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lui Temelkovski]

Madame Gagnon.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

It is almost 11 o'clock. I have a brief question for you, Mr. Keenan.

You avoided my NDP colleague's question about infrastructure. If the government really wanted to make changes when it comes to factors that lead to increasing obesity, it would have made sports facilities a priority. The government's response leaves much to be desired. You have certainly influenced the government, but we are not seeing enough concrete measures.

I would like to reassure Mr. Fletcher that we do not want the federal government to invest in areas under provincial jurisdiction. Nevertheless, that is one way to get money, because some communities do not have the infrastructure they need to encourage young people to get involved in sports.

Have you urged the government to increase funds allocated for sports facilities? Why have we not seen that in the government's response?

[Sean Keenan]

I am not an expert on infrastructure, but I know that in Budget 2007, the government increased funding to the provinces and territories.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Yes, but those funds were not designated for facilities and the environment.

[Sean Keenan]

No, but our provincial and municipal partners will use the funds according to their priorities. There is a sizeable envelope they can use to build sports facilities in partnership with the private sector.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lui Temelkovski]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank the witnesses and the officials for their responses. We will continue on Tuesday at the steering committee meeting in camera.

Until then, the meeting is adjourned.