Thank you very much, and good afternoon.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. As the chief medical officer of health for Nova Scotia and the chair of the provincial/territorial public health network council, I'm here today representing both the provincial/territorial public health network council and the provincial/territorial group on nutrition. Just for context, our leads in healthy eating and nutrition are the provincial/territorial public health network council, which consists of the senior public health officials, including chief medical officers of health from all provinces and territories, and the provincial/territorial group on nutrition.
Without a doubt, unhealthy food and beverage marketing has a significant impact on our children's health. Restricting marketing of unhealthy food and beverages is a cost-effective strategy in the prevention of childhood obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. It will also contribute to reducing health inequities due to the higher exposure and vulnerability of low-income children to such marketing.
Therefore, the provincial/territorial public health network council and group on nutrition strongly support Health Canada's efforts to restrict the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children. We believe that the proposed approach will help to create a positive food environment, support healthy purchasing behaviours of parents and families, positively influence children's food preferences, and protect children from the harms associated with the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages.
I would like to reiterate the comments on the need to cover the broadest possible range of marketing vehicles and media contexts that previous speakers have given more detail on. We also support the restriction of marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children within the broader context of the federal healthy eating strategy as one initiative within a suite of approaches to improve healthy eating, reduce diet-related chronic diseases, and address childhood obesity.
However, we are disappointed to learn that the federal government has lowered the age of children who will be protected under the marketing restrictions from age 17 to age 13. Children and youth between the ages of 13 and 17 are still developmentally vulnerable to marketing, and this is also an influential period in terms of their food and beverage choices and the brand preferences they are developing and will hold through their adult life.
However, we understand the constraints that the federal government is under and the legal precedent that has been set. Although our preference would be to see children and youth under the age of 17 years being protected by federal legislation, we are pleased to see that the vulnerable group of children under 13 will get protection.
We also fully support the development and implementation of a comprehensive monitoring framework that will guide the parliamentary review of the federal legislation and regulations on marketing to children. Given the lower age for the federal protection, we strongly urge that the monitoring framework focus on youth between ages 13 and 17 in order to understand the impact of the legislation and regulations on this vulnerable age group, as well as any shifts in industry marketing to these youth. This will allow an opportunity to assess whether any provisions of the act need to be adjusted to ensure the continued and full protection of our children and youth. We also look forward to seeing how provinces and territories will be engaged as this work progresses.
We're also pleased to hear that the Minister of Health has directed Health Canada to invest resources and work closely with stakeholders to ensure the necessary research is undertaken to determine whether new forms of advertising are impacting children and whether teens are being exposed to more marketing as a result of the restrictions on marketing to younger children. We strongly encourage the federal government to provide adequate resources to support these monitoring and research efforts. We also encourage the robust engagement of young people in these efforts.
We recommend that the federal government require industry to report marketing expenditures and activities. We would encourage Health Canada to devote resources to industry monitoring, similar to the work done by the business intelligence unit of the Tobacco Control Directorate of Health Canada, which monitors the marketing and other activities of the tobacco industry.
A dedicated business intelligence unit could provide information on industry practices that would complement the monitoring framework, provide information on emerging trends, and help inform revisions to monitoring tools as well as to the monitoring framework. It could provide ongoing assessment and potential revisions of regulations.
We request ongoing updates on the monitoring framework development process through our usual channels of engagement with the federal government. As well, the provinces and territories are very interested to know if there are any expectations for direct provincial-territorial involvement in supporting implementation of the monitoring framework.
We would also like to express our concern about sponsorship and the exemption of sponsoring community sporting activities from the legislation. At a minimum, we strongly encourage the federal government to include the monitoring of sponsorship as a robust piece of the monitoring framework. The power and potential of sponsorship to influence sales and consumer behaviour cannot be underestimated. We must consider the impact of this form of marketing.
We know companies invest in corporate social responsibility initiatives such as sports sponsorship to demonstrate concern about the welfare of society or the environment. However, we also know companies engage in CSR campaigns to create a positive association with their brand or products.
A number of provinces and territories have recognized the impact of sponsorship and are working to implement policies that restrict sponsorship of sports and other activities in specific settings, such as schools and child care centres. A consistent national approach regarding sponsorship across all settings should be considered when evaluating the results of the monitoring framework.
Provinces and territories remain key stakeholders in developing and implementing policies and legislation that will improve Canadians' access to healthy foods and beverages. The pan-Canadian public health network council and group on nutrition look forward to continuing to work with Health Canada on the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of key healthy eating policies and legislation, including restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages.
In closing, I want to strongly state that the evidence is clear. The marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages has a negative impact on childhood obesity and overall health outcomes. The World Health Organization's commission on ending childhood obesity, in its final report presented in January 2016, recommended that any attempt to tackle childhood obesity should include a reduction in the exposure of children to marketing. With this unequivocal evidence, the federal government's proposed legislation is imperative.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide these opening remarks, and I am happy to take any questions.