Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses for being here today.
I'm going to put on the timer just to make sure I have the full seven minutes.
Thank you for appearing before our committee to discuss an issue that affected Quebec a few weeks ago when young Athéna Gervais died accidentally. Unfortunately, it is this incident that has brought us to taking the time to address the problem of sugary, high-alcohol drinks. It's an unfortunate incident, but at least it is getting us to take time to look at this issue. I won't go into details like the caffeine content or high concentration of sugar or alcohol. I don't want to talk about the way these drinks are made, but rather the approval of Health Canada.
How can products like this make their way to stores?
I know the responsibilities are split between the provincial and federal governments, but we're here to study the federal government's role. How can the federal government act quickly?
On the provincial side, we've seen that a stream of regulations were quickly established following this unfortunate accident. So, in other words, it's possible to react quickly.
How is it that we're taking so much time? Personally, I would like things to move a little more quickly to prevent an accident caused by excessive drinking of such a product.
In short, how can products like this get to stores? What can Health Canada do to prevent an accident like this from happening again?