Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for allowing me to appear by video conference. I am very grateful to you, especially in these moments when time is extremely precious.
I will start by introducing Éduc'alcool briefly.
Éduc'alcool is a non-profit organization that has been working for 27 years to improve the relationship with alcohol of Quebeckers who choose to drink. You probably know our motto: "Moderation tastes better." The latter has become a saying in Quebec, and we are working hard to make it a way of life.
We also step in to influence the settings where alcohol is consumed. That's what it's all about today.
First of all, let me say that it is extremely regrettable that it took the death of a young girl for us to meet today to discuss this subject. Yet it was a death foretold. Since last July, warnings have been issued here and there, including by Éduc'alcool, to indicate that sugary, alcoholic beverages were dangerous. They are dangerous in their very essence, as we will see later. Now, we must look forward and hope that the death of Athéna Gervais will not have been in vain.
I want to point out that sugary, alcoholic beverages are not just alcohol and are not harmless drinks. In fact, they are dangerous drinks. Their level of danger isn't related to the percentage of alcohol or the amount of sugar, guarana, stimulant or anything chemical. I urge you not to get caught up in a discussion about the percentage or quantity of one product or another. The danger of sugary, alcoholic beverages comes from their very DNA, from conception to marketing, from packaging to promotion, from their price to point of sale. In these products, everything, absolutely everything, from A to Z, and even more, is fundamentally dangerous. The consequences are there. In 11 months, 2,300 young people aged 12 to 24 were received in Quebec's emergency departments for acute alcohol poisoning. A fifth of them were under 18 years old.
I will be very clear with you: you must not content yourselves with half measures. If the decisions taken in Ottawa or Quebec—I am talking about Quebec because I don't know the situation in the other provinces—are unclear, if they are not radical and clear, they will be skirted around by manufacturers. If you like, during the question period, I can list the many ways manufacturers of these products will managed to get around all the acts and the regulations that aren't crystal clear. If the rules are like jell-O, they will be bypassed.
We must also be consistent. Health Canada can't, on the one hand, state on its website that these beverages are dangerous and, on the other, allow them. Either they're dangerous or they're not. In this case, the products are dangerous.
You'll tell me that in the history of humanity, there have always been mixtures of alcohol and sweet or stimulating products. Irish coffee is alcohol and caffeine. Brazilian coffee is the same thing. Rum and Coke is a mix of rum, an alcohol, and Coca-Cola, a sweet and stimulating drink. As for mimosas, they are made of Champagne and orange juice. There have always been mixtures of alcohol and sugary or stimulating drinks, and there has never been a need for warnings about them. Why? Because they aren't deceptive drinks.
However, the sugary, alcoholic beverages we are talking about are dangerous because they mask the taste and effect of alcohol. People drink them without knowing that they are consuming alcohol. Stimulants mean that they don't receive messages that the body sends when they have had too much alcohol to drink.
Beer isn't a deceptive drink. Beer tastes like beer. The same goes for wine, Scotch and cider, but this isn't the case for sugary, alcoholic drinks. They are a public danger and must therefore be banned, period.
Of course, you're going to tell me that banning them won't prevent people from making mixes, and that's true, but when people make their own mixes, they know what they're putting in their glass. There isn't masking going on.
Our first recommendation is to ban the production and sale of sugary, alcoholic drinks containing stimulants, regardless of the level of alcohol, sugar or stimulants. These mixes shouldn't be on the market, period.
If, despite everything, you decide to authorize them, at the very least, make sure that you limit the ways in which consumers are misled, especially young people. Whether consumers of these products are young or not, lovers of one taste or another, it remains that these products are misleading, and it must be ensured that the people who consume them do not need to hold a diploma in nutrition or be licensed chemists to know what they are consuming.
Our second recommendation is that any premixed products be sold and marketed only in containers—reclosable or not, it doesn't matter—containing 13.5 grams of alcohol. So we're talking about a content equivalent to a standard glass. If anyone wants to drink more, they can buy two, three or four. There shouldn't be a single can containing the equivalent of four glasses of alcohol, as is the case now. The equivalent of a standard glass of alcohol per container is what we recommend.
Lastly, the target must be adults. The federal government has jurisdiction over packaging and labelling. However, premixed sugary, alcoholic drinks are marketed in packaging with labelling and lettering that clearly targets the very young. You need only look at one of these cans to realize that the product isn't intended for seniors. The number of young people who get this product, consume it and become addicted is huge. This problem isn't arising in the homes of the elderly, I assure you. Lettering, packaging and colours need to target adults. It's fundamental. This doesn't mean that the packaging has to be ugly, repulsive or hideous, even if it might be relevant, given what it contains. At the very least, it must be ensured that these products can't target young consumers in any way.
Our third recommendation is that the packaging, labelling and lettering for these products be clearly designed to target adult consumers and that it not be possible to market them before authorization is granted and assurance is given that only adults will be targeted.
That said, the federal government isn't the only party involved. The Quebec government also has its part to play. Some time ago, it took a step in the right direction—although it was quite insufficient, I'll tell you right off the bat—by establishing advertising and promotion controls and prohibiting the sale of products containing more than 7% alcohol anywhere but at Société des alcools du Québec stores. Unfortunately, it flatly refused to introduce a minimum price for these drinks. The minimum price was established by scientists: $1.70 per standard glass, regardless of the nature of the product. It is an effective measure to protect the young and the most vulnerable.
I will end there by inviting you to take action, and quickly, without dithering, without making too many nuances. Otherwise, there may be other cases like Athéna Gervais's, and if there is another, this time, no one can say that they didn't know.
Thank you very much.