Health committee  No, of course.

Health committee  It's a fair question.

Health committee  Again, the goal of this bill, as stated, is to make sure that we address the problem where we have one in three children who are obese and the chronic diseases related to that. We're addressing it by really curbing promotional activities that induce kids to eat more of these unhealthy foods.

Health committee  When we come down to making the regulations and exemptions, what we're constantly trying to be faithful to is that objective. We have very clear, rigorous discussions about making sure that we're focusing on the harm. For example, the sponsorship element leads to a positive health outcome.

Health committee  Again, it's a little difficult to deal with hypotheticals, but if you look into what you're saying, this is where it's not perfectly clear-cut. We would look at whether that advertising is directed to children. Again, if it's a fairly adult commercial—

Health committee  Exactly, so why we would care about that is that it takes an unhealthy food for which this policy says “don't promote to children under 13” and allows that to happen. Again, it's within the policy that we would try to observe that in the regulation-making, but again, not in going over that, so you include ads that are for another audience, such as a higher age group, for example.

Health committee  We have taken note of that. It's important also to note that, as the exemption is made, that's through the gazetting process, so there is a time to consult. There is a weighing out of the exact wording of that anticipated exemption. All of the details would be picked up, and there is a public consultation attached to that as well.

Health committee  We wouldn't anticipate an extreme of that nature. What we're looking for is really.... We would look at the context. Where is it being held? Is it it a mixed event? We would look at techniques for marketing. If it's really drilling down into kids, that's really what we want to catch—those unhealthy advertisements to kids.

Health committee  No, please correct me if I am wrong, but I think I did retain it.

Health committee  Right. It's important to start with the definition of “advertising”, which in the Food and Drugs Act is very broad. It includes language that is direct or indirect by any means whatever. Again, that starts off at a very broad scope, and in terms of this policy we see that as a good thing.

Health committee  “Unhealthy” would become part of the Food and Drugs Act through this bill, and the way it would work is that it attaches to the prohibition in proposed section 7.1. It says—

Health committee  It's not required in the language. Where we look is that there is a general ability to make exclusions from any prohibition in the act that's in our reg-making powers.

Health committee  She could avail herself of that through the Governor in Council and make that exclusion.

Health committee  In terms of where we are, it's important to recognize that Health Canada is currently in a regulation-making mode. We're doing a lot of science, a lot of consulting to understand what the set of unhealthy foods would be. We have a high degree of concurrence with the ingredients listed here—high in salt, high in sugar, high in saturated fat—and those will help us identify the foods of concern.

Health committee  It's early to say that this is a possibility. We haven't framed the regulations. We haven't even done a preliminary proposal yet. It's a legitimate discussion that will be raised in that context. We want to have the science behind it. We are a science department. We want to make sure that when we attribute a harm that it's really there.